Samantha Stosur defeats Daniela Hantuchova; advances into the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open
Fifth seeded Australian Samantha Stosur downed Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in one hour and fifty-eight minutes on Tuesday. She registered a 7-6(1), 7-5 win over world number thirty-five Slovak to advance into the third round of
the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, a clay court tournament, held in Spain.
Facing each other for the seventh time, the seed overpowered Hantuchova in straight sets in almost two hours and extended her lead in their head-to-head series by 6-1. Stosur managed to make the most of the serves in the game.
The Australian was full of confidence and clobbered winners from the back of the court. She held serves to level scores at 6-6 in the first set and broke twice in the second set to seal the deal.
Ranked 8th in the WTA Premier rankings, Stosur made a quarter-final berth at Dubai and reached semi-finals at Stuttgart before entering into this event. She entered confidently here at Park Manzanares and overwhelmed
Argentinean Gisela Dulko in three sets in the first round.
Stosur and Hantuchova went neck to neck in the entire opening set with Stosur playing catch-up in the whole set till the tie-breaker. She saved the only breakpoint faced and earned an amazing eighty percent win on her slightly
higher first serve share. In the tie-breaker, the Aussie stormed to a 5-0 lead before snatching the breaker at 7-1. Stosur managed to take the first set with a 7-6(1) score line.
She kept her winning ways in the final set and held her serve in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. Stosur then found the coveted break in the second game but could not maintain her lead as Hantuchova broke back in the very next
game. The Aussie later held her entire serves spectacularly and broke Hantuchova’s serve in the last game to clinch the set with a 7-5 win.
Stosur kept 68% of her first serves in, served 3 aces and smashed 28 winners to book a third round spot. She saved one out of two breakpoints but converted two out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to help clinch
easily.
"I've played some of my best matches of the year on red clay so I'm happy," the beaming Stosur said.
Up next for Stosur is the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who upset eleventh seed Marion Bartoli with a breadstick.
Pavlyuchenkova earned a straight set victory over the Frenchwoman in eighty-eight minutes to advance in this tournament. 19-year-old converted seven out of twelve breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the match with
a 7-5, 6-1 win.
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