Photo

Flavia Pennetta tossed her racket in the air after defeating Roberta Vinci on Saturday to win the United States Open.Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

For two weeks the glare of attention at the United States Open was focused squarely on Serena Williams and her quest for a Grand Slam. When that failed, two Italian women were left standing.

On Saturday Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci, both ranked outside the top 20, took the court instead of Williams, looking for the first United States Open championship by an Italian woman. So history was made at Arthur Ashe Stadium, even if it was not the history so many fans had been hoping to see.

It was Pennetta, the 26th seed, who won, beating her friend and countrywoman Vinci by 7-6 (4), 6-2 to become the oldest first-time winner of a major tournament.

After the match Pennetta made a surprise announcement on court, saying she was retiring at the end of the year. She said it was a decision she made a month ago, when the idea of winning the Open was too far away to even contemplate.

 “I would like to say goodbye to tennis,” she said, and added, “This was my last match in the U.S. Open, and I couldn’t think of a better way.”

At 33 years and six months, Pennetta is a year older than Vinci, whom she first met at age 10, and three years older than another Italian, Francesca Schiavone, was in 2011 when she won the French Open and became the first Italian woman to win a major tournament and the oldest first-time winner.

Vinci, ranked No. 43 in the world, upset Williams and many tennis fans when she won a tense semifinal Friday, but she could not reach that standard of play on a second consecutive day. In a first, the women’s final sold out before the tournament, and despite the disappointment of not having Williams participate, the stadium was mostly filled, with only a few empty seats dotted around the upper bowl.

Matteo Renzi, Italy’s prime minister, made the trip, and it was reported that he had brought along Fabio Fognini, who had defeated Rafael Nadal in an early round. Fognini had gone back to Italy after he was eliminated, but he came back to watch Pennetta, his fiancée, win the Open.

2015 U.S. Open

On the last point, a forehand winner, Pennetta threw her racket high in the air, turned toward her box and gave Vinci a long, emotional hug before running over to her supporters in the stands to embrace them.

In the first set, Vinci was down a break and running out of time to break back, but she finally did in the eighth game with a rare flat backhand winner on the third deuce of the game. After hitting a multitude of slices, she whipped a crosscourt winner, and on the next point Pennetta hit a backhand into the net, and they were even.

They held their serves and went into the tiebreaker playing even but careful tennis. Serving at 3-4 in the tiebreaker, Vinci hit a forehand into the net, and the pressure on her mounted. Pennetta made the next mistake, but at 5-4 Vinci hit a forehand return into the net on a second serve by Pennetta.

Then, on her first set point, Pennetta unleashed a perfect first serve into the far corner to win the set.

In the second set Pennetta broke early to take a 2-0 lead. The next game, on her serve, went to deuce, and Vinci hit a ball into the net. On the next point Pennetta hit a ball short, but Vinci chased it down and hit a little backhand across court at a sharp angle over the net.

Pennetta sprinted after it and, unlike Williams the day before, was able to reach the drop shot and simply poke it back over the net into the empty court that Vinci had just vacated.

The second set was much easier for Pennetta, and because of her unexpected run in the tournament, the result was easier for Vinci, too.

“I lost in the final,” Vinci said on court afterward. “I’m really happy, and really happy for Flavia.”