Serena Williams avenges Samantha Stosur to reach the final-eight – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Reigning world number 11, Serena Williams, fully capitalised on the payback opportunity in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open and avenged the sixth seed Australian, Samantha Stosur, on Monday night. The American tennis
icon outmuscled Stosur in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to book a berth in the quarter-final rounds of the mega event in Miami, Florida.
The world number five, Stosur, hung in the contest for one hour and 46 minutes before submitting in the second set of the match. A gruelling battle was anticipated between the two veterans but it proved out to be a totally one-sided
show for Serena throughout. Stosur was the one who defeated her in the final of the US Open in straight sets last season to claim her first Grand Slam title. The 30-year-old American was ever-hungry to take revenge from Stosur and she was finally successful
on Monday night by pinning her in an assertive fashion.
It was Serena’s 10th victory of the 2012 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season, extending her all-time head-to-head lead to 5-3 over Stosur. The sixth seed Aussie posed some late resistance in the opening set but a
crucial break of serve from Serena turned the set in her favour at the last moments. Once getting in her winning groove, the 10th seed American never turned back in the contest and cruised through the second set to dispose of the Aussie hopes from
the Miami Masters event.
"I was down a little bit and my serve was able to pull me through," Serena commented. "For the most part things are working pretty decently. I honestly feel I can do better - but my serve was hot. I was like, 'That's pretty cool.'
I think we both really, really went for our shots, and she hit little to no errors. It was really well-fought."
Serena thumped 20 aces in the contest and reeled off 33 out of 39 first serve points to annihilate her opponent completely. She nailed four out of 13 serve breaks, while Stosur followed her with two out of eight conversions.
"I had my chances, being a break up in both sets, but there were a few points in a couple of my service games I didn't play very well and she got back even," Stosur said. " I've never had six aces served against me in one game,
and break points that get saved over and over and over again."
Serena will face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the quarter-final round of the tournament.
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