Samantha Stosur finds her rhythm in Carlsbad; cripples Lepchenko – Tennis News
Australian number one, Samantha Stosur, stomped over the local challenger, Varvara Lepchenko, with a breadstick at the Southern California Open 2013 on Monday. She notched up a 7-5, 6-1 victory against the American to secure a spot in the second round at
this WTA Premier event being held in Carlsbad, United States of America.
Seeded fifth in this event, Stosur suffered a drastic opening match defeat at Bank of the West Classic in Stanford last week. However, she sought her winning track in this hard court event and ultimately outshined Lepchenko in her third encounter. As a result,
the Aussie took lead in the head-to-head series by 2-1 against Lepchenko and inched closer towards the title.
"Overall it was pretty good," the jubilant Aussie stated in a courtside interview after earning the glory. "I got off to a little bit of a slow start, losing my first two service games - that isn't the way you want to start matches. But if you start poorly
then end well, that's all that matters. I got through that little rough patch at the start and then found my groove a little bit more. After I got over that first set I probably loosened up and from there played quite well."
The former US Open champion, Stosur, made a sloppy entry in this battle. She suffered the first blow in the opening game and trailed at 0-1. The Aussie managed to grab her break back but lost her serve again, subsequently falling at 1-3. However, she stayed
focused and not only recovered again in the sixth game but got the breakthrough in the last game, eventually sealing the set by winning seven games to five.
Stosur’s skills were fully polished in the following set as she cruised to a 5-0 lead with two breaks of serve. She held her serve again and clinched the set with a breadstick.
Two more former Grand Slam champions were in action later that day. The 2010 Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone squandered a match point but managed to seal the deal with a 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-4 score line against Flavia Pennetta. The Russian veteran,
Svetlana Kuznetsova, on the other hand faced a different fate. She bowed out to Virginie Razzano with a 2-6, 4-6 defeat.
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