Sam Stosur shows grass court form ahead of Wimbledon
Sam Stosur may still be nursing the bruises of losing the French Open final, but the world No. 7 should be pleased with her grass court form in the lead-up to Wimbledon.
Stosur has now booked a place in the semi-finals of the Aegon International in Eastbourne after ending the hopes of Elena Baltacha in the quarters.
And while it’s probably little consolation that the opponent who won the title in Roland Garros, Francesca Schiavone, departed in the first round of this tournament, even if Stosur loses her next match in Eastbourne, she’s now added enough ranking points to her total to ensure she’ll replace the Italian as world No. 6 when the rankings are updated next week.
Having taken a three-set victory over China’s Jie Zheng in her previous match, Baltacha started her quarter-final against Stosur strongly, despite being troubled when the third seed managed to land that problematic kick serve.
But after the Briton took the first set in a tiebreak, it was all Stosur in the second two as she dropped just one more game for the match to run out a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 winner in just over two hours.
It’s another encouraging win for the Queenslander, who doesn’t have a historically strong record on grass (although she did also reach the semi-finals at Eastbourne in 2008). However, what she does have right now is some of the best form of anyone on the WTA Tour.
The fact that, unlike Schiavone, Stosur has continued her winning ways away from clay can only be another positive as she heads to Wimbledon, a tournament where in seven previous appearances in the singles draw, the Australian No. 1 is yet to progress beyond the third round.
Expect that to change when she returns to the All England Club for attempt number eight next week.
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