Samantha Stosur vs. Dominika Cibulkova: Quarter-Final Preview – French Open 2012
Aussie sixth seed, Samantha Stosur, will go head-to-head with the Slovak tennis ace, Dominika Cibulkova, in the quarter-final of the Roland Garros French Open on the eve of Tuesday.
She was expected to meet the likes of the reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, but the shocking exit of the Belarusian tennis ace in the fourth round of the tournament changed the whole structure of the draws. Cibulkova
ousted the world number one in straight sets and booked a date with the Aussie superstar.
Three years ago during the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Stosur locked horns with Cibulkova for the first time in the professional career. She was the inferior ranked player at that time and registered an upset by defeating
the sixth seed Slovak in straight sets.
Since then, they have not faced each other at any platform and it’s the perfect opportunity for the 23-year-old Slovak to take the revenge of the earlier loss and force another seeded player with an early exit from the tournament.
She is definitely capable of that and the glimpse of it was witnessed on Sunday when she went out with an all-round onslaught on the Belarusian number one.
Stosur, on the other hand, has had a steady tournament so far. She hasn’t had a tough tie yet; just faced one seeded player, the 27th seed Russian, Nadia Petrova, in the third round and edged past her easily. So, it
has been a relatively easy route for the Aussie starlet and the upset of the world number one has made it even easier. She will have to see off the 16th seed Slovak to reach the semi-final stage of the tournament and that will be a great achievement
for her after a very dismal season so far.
Cibulkova had some tough matches against the American booming star, Vania King, and the reigning Australian Open champion, Azarenka. So, apparently she is the deserving winner of the quarter-final tie. At least one of the players
will lose their first set of the tournament on Tuesday when they will go face-to-face. It will be interesting to see if we have an epic three-setter encounter because both these players are famous to put their bodies on the line in their matches.
Considering that the defending champion from China, Li Na, is already out of the tournament, one of these two has a terrific opportunity to consolidate their position in the Top-10 ranks of the world by winning the title but for
that they will have to put up a show of their lifetime in the next three stages. American number one, Serena Williams, was knocked out in the opening round so just the Russian number one, Maria Sharapova, who started the tournament as the favourite is left
in the draw.
Stakes are high for both the players so an enthralling encounter is expected on Wednesday. I will pick the Aussie number one, Samantha Stosur, as my match favourite but the Slovak can never be forced out of the contest at any stage.
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