13 reasons Serena Williams' loss to Roberta Vinci was the biggest upset in tennis history

There have been rank-on-rank upsets, there have been more surprising results (as we’ve detailed, Serena Williams has frequently lost such matches over the years) but no match combined the ranking gap, surprise and meaning of the moment, as Roberta Vinci’s three-set win over Serena Williams did on Friday. It was one for the record books.

1. Before the tournament, most sports books did not offer odds on Roberta Vinci winning it all. Her opponent in Saturday’s final, fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta, had 200/1 odds.

2. Serena was a 30/1 favorite to win the match.

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3. The Italian was playing her first Grand Slam semifinal. Serena was playing her 47th.

4. Serena entered the semifinal on a 33-match Grand Slam winning streak. Vinci has 30 wins in total this season.

5. Vinci has as many losses in the past year (24) than Serena has this decade (22).

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6. Vinci was playing her 44th major and just her third quarterfinal. Serena has 10 seasons when she’s made that many major quarterfinals in the same year.

7. Entering the match, Vinci had as many combined wins in majors this year (six) as Serena had at every other single major (seven each in Australia, France and Wimbledon). Vinci went 2R/1R/1R at the other three majors.

8. Serena has 60 more titles than Vinci.

9. Miss Williams had won 37 consecutive matches against women ranked outside the top 40 before running into Vinci.

10. The Italian reached a high of No. 11 in the world two summers ago. She is currently ranked No. 43 (but not for long).

11. Vinci hadn’t beaten a seed to get to the semifinal. The only one in her way, No. 25 Genie Bouchard, had to withdraw with a concussion.

12. In her five matches, Vinci has played 14 sets, one below the maximum. (She won her opening match over Vania King in straights.)

Source: (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)