Samantha Stosur enters the quarter-final round by beating Petra Cetkovska – Qatar Total Open 2012
Australia’s number one, Samantha Stosur, finally displayed some class and domination in the third round clash of the Qatar Total Open, beating the 30th ranked Czech competitor, Petra Cetkovska, on Thursday. The world
number five took just 73 minutes of play to wrap up the two-setter, 6-3, 6-2, to march into the quarter-final round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Tour event in Doha, Qatar.
It was merely the fifth victory for the fifth ranked Aussie in the 2012 WTA season and a much needed one as well. Stosur has been going through a terrible slump of form since her emphatic Grand Slam victory at the US Open last
year. She failed to perform in the season-opening tournaments on her home soil but her voyage at the Qatar Total Open seems very promising. The 27-year-old veteran registered two straight sets victories on the hard courts of Qatar to book a place in the quarter-finals
of the event.
Fifth seed Stosur faced limited resistance from her inferior-ranked opponent in the contest. Cetkovska’s error-ridden game play greatly assisted the Australian to cruise through the games with ease. The Czech spilled a number of
silly mistakes throughout the matchup and coughed nine costly double faults to finish on the losing side in the end.
Stosur was far composed and organised in the contest and she kept winning crucial points to build up momentum. The fifth seed Aussie converted five out of seven break points, while Cetkovska could reply with just two out of three
conversions in the entire matchup.
"I played a good match, quite solid, and did what I had to do," Stosur said. "I served well and returned well, which put pressure on her service games. As it went on I felt I was getting further and further ahead. I felt pretty
good."
Stosur will play her quarter-final match against the unseeded Romanian, Monica Niculescu, on Friday afternoon and the winner of the two will get a place in the semi-final draw of the big event in Doha.
"I played Sam a few years ago in Stanford and she won quite easily, then I drew her again right after that in LA and she beat me even more easily!" Niculescu said. "But I've improved since then. I've been winning a lot more matches
and I'm confident. I'll give it my best shot when I play her and I'll make sure I have fun."
Niculescu outplayed the Ukrainian qualifier, Kateryna Bondarenko, in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4, in the third round to book a date with Stosur.
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