Flavia Pennetta has been threatening to break into the world's top 10 for the first time this year but blew a great opportunity at the recent French Open where she was dumped out in the opening round despite being regarded as a claycourt expert.

The experienced Italian's superb 2008 - in which she won two WTA titles and reached the US Open quarter-finals - helped her soar up the rankings and into a position to really kick on to the next level, but so far this season she's struggled to consistently produce similar levels of performance.

Pennetta's plus points this year include a run to the final in Acapulco, where she eventually lost to Venus Williams, while in Stuttgart she chalked up victories over Nadia Petrova and Jelena Jankovic before losing to Dinara Safina in the semi-finals.

The 27-year-old is such a valuable player for Italy and helped the country reach the Fed Cup final following a 5-0 thumping of France and a surprise 4-1 triumph over holders Russia.

Should Pennetta actually force her way into the top 10 - and a lengthy run at SW19 would certainly help - she would be the first Italian to do so.