Roberta Vinci won the Palermo Open on Sunday with a three-set victory over close friend and defending champion Sara Errani as the two Italians produced an entertaining finale to the WTA event in Sicily.
Errani, who also won at Palermo in 2008 and teamed up with Vinci to win a the doubles crown in 2011, dropped the first set 6-3 before bouncing back to level the match by the same score and sending it to a decider.
However, the 30-year-old Vinci held her nerve to close out the match 6-3 for her 10th WTA title and is on the verge of breaking into the world’s top 10.
Her best individual result at a grand slam was in 2012 when she reached the quarter-finals of the US Open but the Taranto native has teamed up with her off-court friend Errani to win doubles titles at the 2012 French Open and US Open before they made it a hat-trick of major wins at the 2013 Australian Open.
They were also both on the Italian team that won the 2009 and 2010 Fed Cups with victories on both occasions over the United States.