Sara Errani stomps Samantha Stosur to reach her maiden Grand Slam final – French Open 2012
Surprise queen, Sara Errani, continued with her dream run at the coveted Roland Garros French Open campaign. The 24th ranked Italian has beaten all the odds to reach her first ever Grand Slam final in Paris, France,
after disposing of the world number six, Samantha Stosur of Australia, in the semi-final battle.
21st seed Errani went through three gruelling sets before registering her emphatic victory over the last year’s US Open champion, settling the final score line 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, in her favour. Local crowd at Court Philippe
Chatrier witnessed an amazing display of clay-court tennis from the Italian underdog, who never appeared to be an inferior-ranked player against the sixth seed Stosur. Errani had an early impact over contest by bagging the opener but went through a terrible
slump in the following set to show her nerves. She regrouped in the decisive set and cruised past the Aussie veteran to earn a title shot in the final of the coveted event in Paris, France.
"I didn't think I could do this coming into the tournament. Never. This is just incredible for me," Errani said. "The first round here was difficult, this match was difficult, all the matches have been difficult, and I'm very happy
how I've played. The most important thing for me is I'm just thinking about playing - I'm just playing my game without thinking of what I'm doing. But I'm not finished."
Stosur went into the contest with a five-match winning streak over Errani and was deemed to be the hot favourite for winning the semi-final brawl. She had defeated the Italian in straight sets in the second round of Rome Masters
last month and was expected to produce the similar sort of result on Thursday afternoon. Her dream of clinching her second Grand Slam title was torn apart by sheer brilliance and class from the 25-year-old Italian and the Aussie exited the glorious Stade Roland
Garros arena in sheer dismay.
Errani used her first serve as her primary weapon of destruction, delivering 86 per cent of it on target and winning 53 out of 78 points on en route to victory. Both contenders registered four break points apiece in the contest
but it was the eighth game of the decisive set which turned the course of the match. A double fault from Stosur on the most crucial moment of the contest allowed Errani to break her serve and lead 5-3. She then comprehensively served out of the match at 40-0
to book a place in the final of the French Open.
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