Samantha Stosur strains past Venus Williams to reach the semis – Family Circle Cup 2012
World number five, Samantha Stosur of Australia, finally broke the four-match losing streak against the former world number one, Venus Williams, in the quarter-final brawl of the Family Circle Cup on Friday. The second seed Aussie
outplayed Venus in a gruelling three-setter, settling the final scores at 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to book a place in the semis of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level event in Charleston, USA.
It was the first time in five occasions that Stosur has beaten Venus in a singles encounter, improving 1-4 in the all-time head-to-head series against the American. Currently holding the 87th spot in the WTA World Rankings,
Venus is making her comeback to the professional circuit after a long illness layoff and is still struggling to find her vintage form.
The 31-year-old was off to her usual sloppy start in the opening set and was quickly jolted down by her Aussie opponent to trail 0-1 in the contest. Venus powered her way back in business and clinched the second set with exceptional
power hitting to level the score line at 1-1. She run out of steam in the decisive set and Stosur kept belting her with aggressive game play to conclude an emphatic victory.
"I don't think it was the end of the world to get out there and play this morning," Stosur said after everything. "Today was very different than what we've been playing in, so it was good to get used to the conditions. I would
have preferred not to play two three set matches, but nevertheless, I'm happy to be through. It's only one win compared to I don't know how many times she's beaten me, five or six, but of course I'm very, very happy to have beaten Venus now. "
Stosur delivered 67 per cent of her first serve on target, securing 44 out of 72 points on it and nailing her opponent’s serve six out of 11 times en route to victory. Venus could just claim 34 out of 56 first serve points and
broke the Australian serve four out of 12 times to finish on the losing side in the end.
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