Samantha Stosur cruises into the second round at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Fifth seeded Australian Samantha Stosur eased past Spanish Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez with a breadstick. She earned a 7-5, 6-1 win over the 28-year-old Spaniard to advance into the second round of the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand
Prix in Stuttgart.
World number seven, Stosur faced the Spaniard for the fifth time and won in straight sets to extend the lead in their head-to-head series by 4-1. They last duelled each other on clay courts at Madrid last year where the Australian
won the match with a 7-6(2), 6-4 score line.
Stosur, who hasn’t had much progress this season except for making a quarter-final berth at Dubai, took eighty minutes to triumph over the former top twenty Spaniard at Porsche Arena. Regardless of keeping her serve in the first
game of the opening set plausibly, she clobbered more double faults and unforced errors later in the set. The seed registered an impressive 67 percent win on her higher first serve share and exchanged the breaks early on. Later she converted another breakpoint
opportunity to her advantage in the twelfth game to clinch the set with a 7-5 win.
The 27-year-old perfected her gameplay into the second set as went on savage mode to reel off first five games in a row. Stosur then held her serve in the seventh game to seal the set with a breadstick. Stosur had a much better
first serve share of 68 percent as compared to Sanchez’s 38 percent and earned an amazing 92 percent win on it. She also conceded zero double faults and faced zero breakpoints.
World number 33, Sanchez had won only five out of last ten matches. She continued her title drought by exiting from the opening round at this WTA Premier event as well.
The 5’7” Australian will next face 5’11” Daniela Hantuchova who dumped Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in straight sets on another court. The Slovakian Hantuchova converted four out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage
to clinch the match with a 7-5, 6-3 win. She had a lower first serve share but earned an assuring 67 percent win on it. Hantuchova also saved three out of five breakpoints she faced to win comfortably.
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