Li Na vs Samantha Stosur – Match Preview: TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships 2011
For the first time Turkey is hosting the most prestigious year-end WTA Championships in the last week of October. The world’s best eight players are divided into two groups of Red and White with four players in each group. The
competition is held on indoor hard courts of the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.
The two contestants that will kick off the fourth day of the WTA Championships are from the White group. The current US Open champion Samantha Stosur will face the current French Open champion Li Na in a battle for a spot in the
semi final on Friday the 28th of October 2011.
Both the players are familiar with each other’s style and performance as they have clashed against each other five times prior to this event. Their first meeting was back in 2007 at the Tokyo pan Pacific Open and Stosur had conquered
the Chinese Li in straight sets. They again met after a gap of three years in 2010 and this time it was the Stuttgart event where Stosur had once again battered Li in straight sets.
Having not learnt her lesson, Stosur again defeated Li thrice this year at Rome, Toronto, and Cincinnati but this time it took her three sets to overcome the Chinese wonder.
Stosur reached the semi finals in her first appearance at the season finale Championships in 2010 by defeating Caroline Wozniacki and Francesca Schiavone, however, her winning streak was cut short by Kim Clijsters.
This year has proved to one of the best for Stosur as she not only is in form but managed to bag the singles US Open title and by doing that she proved her mettle against Serna Williams in straight sets. However, post her US Open
tournaments, she was unable to perform to her utmost capability; at Tokyo Pan Pacific and Beijing with early round exits. Nevertheless, she got a boost in her confidence at Osaka when she made it all the way to the semi finals though lost to Marion Bartoli
in the end.
Her performance so far in the tournament has been inconsistent. Although she destroyed Maria Sharapova in her first round robin match this year, in the second she succumbed to Victoria Azarenka.
On the other hand, Li achieved her biggest feat when she became the first Chinese and Asian women to ever bag a Grand Slam title. Her performance surprised everyone at the French Open as she proved to be an unstoppable force that
got rid of many top players. However, her subsequent performance was not what her fans expected and she failed to lift another winner’s silverware.
A debutant here Li brought her A-game against Maria Sharapova in her first round robin match but against Victoria Azarenka during the second round robin match, she was unable to set her rhythm.
Both of this year’s one hit wonders are meeting each other for the first time this season in an evenly poised battle where victory can go either way. However, Li being a more experienced singles player is expected to clinch a victory
over Stosur in three sets.
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