Samantha Stosur bows out to Lucie Hradecka in the quarter-final thriller – Mutua Madrid open
Upsets kept coming in the quarter-final round of the Mutua Madrid Open with the world number five, Samantha Stosur of Australia, crashed out of tournament at the hands of the 105th ranked Czech qualifier, Lucie Hradecka,
on Friday afternoon. The surprise Czech contender laboured through double tie-breaker rounds to register her upset victory in straight sets, 7-6(8), 7-6(6), to earn a semi-final spot at the star-studded event in Madrid, Spain.
The 26-year-old Czech has been enjoying her dream run on the blue clay courts of Madrid this week. Hradecka earned the lime light when she outplayed the world number four, Petra Kvitova, 6-4, 6-3, in the second round of the tournament.
She carried on her rampage to oust the 41st ranked Russian, Ekaterina Makarova, in the third round and then hunted down the last year’s US Open winner, Stosur, to enter the final-four of the Madrid Open.
The Aussie tennis ace was successful against Hradecka in the 2011 season opening event in Brisbane, Australia but it was the payback time for the Czech starlet on Friday. High quality tennis action was witnessed throughout the
quarter-final brawl of the Madrid Open and fifth seed Stosur was stretched to her limits before submitting in both tie-breaker rounds to lose the match. Her aggression in the contest was evenly met by Hradecka, who was seen a step ahead of the superior-ranked
Australian throughout the competition.
"I was concentrating on my serve today, then just trying to play my best after that," Hradecka said. "It's an amazing feeling. I've never had this feeling from my singles before - I had a similar feeling winning the French Open
last year in doubles, but it's different in singles because you're alone on the court. When the last point was over and I won, I looked at my coach and smiled, and I think the smile will last all evening, maybe even until tomorrow morning."
Hradecka could merely reach 53 per cent serve precision in the matchup but it included 19 thudding aces and four doubles faults as well. She dropped just nine points on her first serve, clinching 40 out of 49, en route to victory.
No serve breaks were seen in the entire matchup, with Stosur frittering away four vital opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end.
The Czech starlet will face the former world number one, Serena Williams, in the semi-final clash of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday.
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