Samantha Stosur crashes out to Iveta Benesova in the second round – Brisbane International 2012
Home Favourite and top seed, Samantha Stosur, exited from the second round of the Brisbane International 2012, after suffering a straight set defeat at the hands of the Czech competitor, Iveta Benesova, on Wednesday. The Aussie
suffered a 4-6, 2-6 loss against the 28-year-old at this first WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event of the season taking place in Brisbane, Australian.
World number six, Stosur, was unbeaten against the Czech (ranked 48 spots below her in the WTA Premier Rankings), however, she displayed disastrous performance and lost to Benesova for the first time in their fifth meeting.
The high-spirited Czech stepped on the hard courts with conviction and held her opening serve in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. She then maintained consistency in her game and continued plucking the remaining serves.
Benesova faced no break points and converted one out of many break opportunities to her advantage to win the opener with a 6-4 score line.
The Australian veteran, who won the US Open last year, kept her losing momentum in the following set as she lost her serves twice and suffered a 2-6 loss in almost half an hour.
Stosur brushed off seven out of ten breakpoints she came across but failed to find any break chance in the 70-minute marathon. She also clobbered a higher first serve share of 79 percent, as opposed to the Czech’s 73 percent but
earned 26 out of 44 points on it. Stosur also won only 12 out of 49 points on its returns.
"Iveta played quite well, but I probably didn't do what I set out to do," Stosur told press after the match. "As the match went on it got harder and harder to try and stop what was happening. Her serve comes in a little bit different
angle and she hits her spots quite well. I certainly didn't feel like I did what I was capable of, but I always want to give credit to an opponent and I think she played very well today.”
The Australian icon, Stosur, is eyeing for a better performance at the Apia International Sydney 2012, a build-up tournament for the Australian Open, which will be held in the second week of January. "Hopefully it was just a bit
of a bad day and I'll bounce back next week and the week after and play a lot better, and keep getting better," the Australian added.
The 27-year-old Aussie might have enjoyed a successful season last year but her loss against the Czech drained her confidence. She needs to play her game to find her rhythm in Sydney. Stosur showed her defensive skills in the game
by saving seven breakpoints she encountered but she needs to focus on her attacking skills. The Aussie has to formulate more break opportunities and should capitalise on most of them.
Left-handed Benesova on the other side will square off against the Belgian number one and the fifth seed here, Kim Clijsters, who reached this spot after rallying past a former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, in a see-saw three
setter match to reach this spot.
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