Samantha Stosur survives against Sorana Cirstea in round two – Qatar Ladies Open 2012
Aussie tennis icon, Samantha Stosur, was stretched to limits by the 49th ranked Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, before she could book a spot in the third round draws of the Qatar Ladies Open. On Wednesday, both players rocked
the show with the 27-years-old Aussie clinching the final glory of winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(5).
A gruelling contest in Doha, Qatar, lasted for an hour and 32 minutes. Both these players had played each other on four different occurrences before this encounter and surprisingly the head-to-head scores were tied at 2-2. The
most recent encounter they played was a month back in Australian Open tournament where the Romanian tennis diva ousted the local hot favourite in straight sets and registered the most agonizing upsets for the home crowd.
Cirstea had won the last two battles so the momentum was obviously in her favour and Stosur was already in dismal run of form. It was a monumental task for the third seed Aussie contestant to overpower the player who defeated her
a month ago.
Both players started off in dazzling fashion; coming up with an aggressive mindset. They were so eager to clinch an early breakpoint but unfortunately they were deprived of early breakthroughs. The pressure was definitely on the
Aussie superstar who needed to perform well in order to hold on to her spot in the ranking.
Cirstea had nothing to lose and fought extremely well with a clear mind. She was leading with two points in the ninth game but clinched the following four points to register the first breakthrough of the match. It was the critical
stage of the set and the Aussie superstar eased her task; just needed to hold on to her serve to bag the first half of the match. She did exactly the same and reversed the pressure on her opponent.
The second set was extremely classy with both players playing on top of their game. First eight games witnessed no breakpoints with the scores ticking over to 4-4. Cirstea was commanding the show with her superb display of aces.
She had already smashed five of them compared to none of her opponent.
Breakpoints were swapped by both players in the following two games taking the scores to 5-5. It was obvious that the set was going to the end in a tie-breaker round. Stosur was playing under pressure but Cirstea uncharacteristically
played a couple silly drop shots that backfired on her; forcing her to lose the contest in a tie-breaker round.
Samantha Stosur progresses to round three where she plays the Czech contender, Petra Cetkovska.
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