Francesca Schiavone stuns Samantha Stosur in the first round – Apia International Sydney 2012
Aussie world number six, Samantha Stosur, was stunned by the 11th ranked Italian, Francesca Schiavone, in the first round of Apia International Sydney on Monday. The unseeded Schiavone took an hour and 30 minutes
to plonk the home favourite in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, to make a berth in the round of 16 of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event. Both players went face-to-face for the tenth time in their career and Italian clubbed this opportunity to improve the head-to-head
tally.
The rivalry started in 2005 when both players squared off during the Stars Hasselt tournament. Italian picked up the victory in straight sets at that occasion. Stosur had to wait for almost one and half year before she had
her revenge in Rome with a straight set win over the Schiavone. Aussie doubled her lead with a victory at Indian Wells in 2009 and tripled it in French Open just after two months. Italian fought back to decrease the trail in Japan Women’s Open 2009. Aussie
once again proved to be a tough competitor in Doha 2010.
An exciting start to the match saw both players exchanging breaks in the first two games and the Italian flabbergasting everyone with another successive break in the third to take 2-1 lead, which was doubled to 3-1 in the
next game. Aussie fans were completely stunned as they saw their prolific tennis ace being crushed by the inferior ranked visitor. Pin drop silence was observed; next game further drowned the enthusiasm of local crowd as Italian broke once again to triple
her lead with a score of 4-1.
Successful serve game by world number eleven took the score to 5-1 in her favour. Finally, local fifth seed held her serve in the hunt to build up a comeback but she couldn’t stop her opponent from cruising with a one set
lead; Schiavone held her serve. Trailing one set down and pressurized to perform in front of home crowd, Stosur seemed frustrated and confused at that stage.
Another exciting kick-off in the second set saw both players trading breaks in the first two games. Both players held their serves in the next four games to push the score to 3-3. Vital break in the seventh game saw the Italian
fuming with confidence, as she didn’t allow her opponent to come back. Stosur failed to break and lost the second set as well.
Francesca Schiavone jumps into the second round to play against the Slovak, Daniela Hantuchova.
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