Vinci ends the Serena Slam dream, sets up all-Italian US Open final

Italian tennis pro Roberta Vinci made history on Friday, ending a year-long winning run of the U.S.' Serena Williams with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 semi-final upset to bury the American's bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Vinci, 32, from Taranto in southern Italy, will play Saturday for the title after setting up the first all-Italian final at a grand slam.

She faces compatriot and friend Flavia Pennetta - another southern Italian - who scored another upset, a crushing 6-1, 6-3 rout of Romanian second seed second seed Simona Halep in a mere 59 minutes.

"I'm happy," said Vinci, who went to the court a 300-1 underdog against Williams. "I don't know. It's tough to explain my emotion right now."

Williams had been bidding for the first calendar-year Grand Slam title sweep since Steffi Graf in 1988. The US player last lost in New York to Samantha Stosur in the 2011 final.

She had won her last 33 matches at the majors.

Vinci's years of championship doubles experience and fierce shotmaking played havoc with a patchy Williams as the Italian sliced and diced her way to the stunning upset.

"It's magic moment for me. You work so hard for a long time, and it's incredible. Tomorrow final," said Vinci, who holds five doubles titles at the majors.

The Italian fought back without apparent nerves after Williams sprinted to 6-2 in the first set.

A break in the seventh game of the second provided an opening for Vinci thanks to a Williams double-fault to level at a set each. That setback resulted in a Williams racquet smash after losing the set.

Vinci said that Williams seemed "nervous," motivating herself to "fight every single point."

The Italian underdog recovered an early break in the third set, and took the lead 4-3.

"At the end when I made a break, 4-3, and serve, I was a little bit scared. In my mind I said I was 4-3 and serve in semifinal against Serena - so almost to the final US Open," she said.

"But I don't think about this, because maybe you have more pressure. Stay calm, relax and breathe during every single point. Don't think that you have Serena on the other side of the court."

Vinci finished on the first of three match points as Williams couldn't reach a quick winning flick of the ball at the net.

Pennetta, a decade the elder of Romanian Halep, went on a six-game winning streak after the third game of the match and won 15 consecutive points in the second set to stamp her dominance on the seed, whose game was well off the boil.

Pennetta will play for her first singles title at a major in her 49th career grand slam appearance.

"I think I played really well from the beginning. In the second set, I just wait a little bit too much ... waiting for her mistake, and I didn't push a lot like before," she said.

"But I'm really happy, because I was 3-1 down and I just starting again with what I had to do. Everything was working amazing today, so I'm really pleased."

Pennetta was contesting her second grand slam semi-final, having lost to Victoria Azarenka at the 2013 US Open.

Both Pennetta and Vinci will be in their first grand slam finals. Vinci stands 5-3 in the series and beat her countrywomen in a 2013 New York quarter-final.