Samantha Stosur strains past Daniela Hantuchova in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
World number seven, Samantha Stosur of Australia toiled hard to overwhelm her Slovakian opponent, Daniela Hantuchova in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, being played at the Porsche Tennis Arena at Stuttgart, Germany
on Wednesday. The fifth seed Aussie laboured for two hours and four minutes before closing the three-set contest at 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to dispense her opponent out of the $721,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
The Australian gave a magnificent performance to register her 11th WTA win of the running year at Stuttgart. 27-year-old Stosur has defeated Hantuchova for the fifth time, extending her head-to-head lead against the
Slovak to 5-1. The fifth seeded Aussie had an excellent start to the contest, bagging the opener after a stiff competition but slumped in the next set to let Hantuchova bounce back right into the game. However, the Australian veteran exhibited mental resilience
to outdo her opponent in the third set and book a spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
“It was a tough one,” said Stosur after her victory, “I thought Daniela played very well and it was a good standard match. For me to serve it out there and get through is great.”
Hantuchova hung in the contest most of the time, always pushing the Australian to her limits. She slopped the opener to Stosur but made a terrific comeback in the second set to level the game at 1-1. The Slovak failed to convert
most of the opportunities she received in the game and eventually submitted the match to Stosur in the third set to end her voyage at Stuttgart.
Stosur served brilliantly in the opening set and bagged 21 of 29 serve points to take the competitive edge in the game. She broke once before the first set fell to her name at 6-4. Hantuchova turned the tables on the Aussie in
the next set and came out firing at her. The Slovak won 15 of 18 firs serve points and stung two break points to clinch the second set at 6-2 and bring the match on even terms with one set a piece.
The Australian veteran was trailing 15-40 in the seventh game of the decider when she reeled off four straight points to break the opponent’s serve and carried the momentum to conclude victory at 6-4. Up next for Stosur in the
quarter-final is the world number three Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia to make it to the round of eight. Stosur already leads the head-to-head series 5-2 against Zvonareva.
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