Samantha Stosur stuns Li Na to advance into the quarterfinal – Western & Southern Open 2011
Australian tennis pro Samantha Stosur battled past 2011 French Open Champion Li Na 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Thursday to book a quarterfinal berth at the 2011 WTA Western and Southern Open here in Ohio, United States.
Stosur, who has struggled to find her form both physically and mentally since the start of this season, looked in much more control of her game in her third round match as she committed very few unforced errors. She was the superior
of the two players in the serve department of the game as she hit an impressive 67 per cent first serve as compared to 61 achieved by LI Na. Although Stosur secured only four points more than the Chinese, she won the battles in finer details of the game.
Seeded tenth at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, Stosur made it to the quarterfinal last year here in Cincinnati. Showing better form at the Rogers Cup last week, the 27-year-old is certainly capable of giving better
results. She will be hoping to maintain her current level of play and improve her ranking significantly by making it all the way to another final on the tour.
Commenting about her match, Stosur said, ‘‘I had a pretty easy day, which was nice, considering the week I had before. So I guess that was good for today’s match, and hopefully will be good for tomorrow.’
Against a very stiff challenge, Stosur played her natural game freely and produced her best tennis. In a match that lasted for nearly two hours on the hard courts of Ohio, Stosur made the most of available opportunities.
Both players held on to their serve games early in the match as some highly competitive tennis was seen in the first set. Stosur made bold moves as she took risks from deep behind the baseline. Making the only serve break in the
opening set, she took a reasonable 5-3 lead. Holding on to her fourth service game with ease, she pocketed the opener to take 1-0 lead in the set score.
Li Na came back strongly in the following set as she broke her opponent regularly to shift the balance of the match. Executing her game plan to perfection, she put the pressure back on her opponent. Breaking Stosur for the second
time at 5-3 in the second set, she evened the set score.
However, Stosur changed the gears and she raised her game to higher level in the final set. Showing no signs of nerves, she clinched victory in a nail biting encounter to book her last eight meeting with Russian Maria Sharapova,
who eased past Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-3.
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