Italy's Vinci, Pennetta on to U.S. Open Quarters

Roberta Vinci will face a fellow Italian in the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second straight year.

And the 10th-seeded Vinci will also be taking on an Italian for the third straight round at this year's tournament after she and longtime friend Flavia Pennetta both won Monday.

"We try to motivate everyone," Pennetta said. "It's really nice because always we make a good result, almost always."

On a day when experience trumped youth, three 30-something women beat opponents in their early 20s. Vinci defeated Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-2 in 67 minutes. Moments later, rain started pouring down, stopping all matches at Flushing Meadows for four-and-a-half hours.

The delay couldn't have come at a better time for Pennetta, who returned to the court to seize momentum and clinch a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over 21st-seeded Simona Halep.

American wild-card entry Alison Riske forced a third set against Daniela Hantuchova, but the Slovakian veteran pulled away for a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory.

Halep had set point on her serve, trying to send the match to the third, when the skies opened up to her dismay. Once they resumed play, Pennetta pounced on a second serve to set up a big forehand that erased the set point.

"After that I was very nervous and I lost the game — very fast," Halep said.

Pennetta leveled the second set at 5-5 and Halep promptly broke again, but she couldn't serve out the set this time, either. Then the 31-year-old Pennetta dominated the tiebreaker.

Pennetta is in the U.S. Open quarters for the fourth time. But this one is sweet, because she missed last year's tournament with a right wrist injury that explains why her ranking has slipped to 83rd.

"Was not easy, I can tell you," Pennetta said of coming back from surgery. "I cry a lot, yeah. But I love this sport."

Vinci had never made a Grand Slam quarterfinal before this tournament a year ago, when she was 29. Now Vinci has done it in consecutive U.S. Open trips. She lost to another Italian, doubles partner Sara Errani, in the quarters in 2012.

"It's obvious that I'm not young. I'm 30. But it can be a strength, because I have a lot of experience," Vinci said. "Against a player like Camila, who is very young, it can be an advantage for me — and I think it was on the court today."

Fourth-seeded Errani was upset by Pennetta in the second round this year. No matter, the country will still have a representative in the women's semifinals for the second straight time.

Before last year, that hadn't happened once in the Open era, which began in 1968.

Vinci is one of only two players seeded in the top 10 left in her half of the draw, along with No. 2 Victoria Azarenka.

Ranked as high as No. 5 more than a decade ago, Hantuchova is down to 48th. She is back in the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2002, and it's her first Grand Slam quarters since the 2008 Australian Open.

Hantuchova said she's "just fighting like crazy, really leaving everything I've got on the court."

She will face the winner of a delayed match between Azarenka and 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, which was postponed Monday because of the rain.