Stosur upsets Wozniacki at WTA Championships
Samantha Stosur has completed the biggest upset of the WTA Tour Championships so far, defeating world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in their round-robin match.
The victory is Stosur's second for the tournament, following her 6-4, 6-4 win against French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, a match where the Australian started slowly but then stormed back from 0-4 down to take the first set without dropping another game.
Against the in-form Wozniacki, she could ill afford to take the same approach and nor did she, matching the Dane game for game for the majority of the opening set.
But with Wozniacki creating more than her share of break point chances against the Stosur serve it seemed almost inevitable that if the cracks were going to appear, they would open up in the Roland Garros runner-up's game.
Certainly, the top seed was taking full advantage of Stosur's weaker backhand side but she had hung tough through it all and would ultimately finish the match having saved all six of the break point chances Wozniacki generated against her serve.
In the end though, it was Stosur who made the break and at the most crucial point in the first set, with Wozniacki serving to stay in it at 4-5. With scores level at 30-30, the 20-year-old double faulted, and the world's former No. 1 ranked doubles player pounced to take the set against the run of play.
The world No. 7 then took control of the second set, that potent kick serve causing more than its share of headaches for Wozniacki.
Indeed, the only wobble from Stosur came as she attempted to serve out the match, with two consecutive double faults to the backhand side keeping her opponent in both the game and the match, but not for too much longer as the fifth seed sealed a 6-4, 6-3 win to move one step closer to booking a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Vera Zvonareva won a tough encounter with eighth seed Victoria Azarenka to also remain undefeated in her two round-robin matches, while US Open champion Kim Clijsters opened her account with a 6-2, 6-3 win over an ailing Jelena Jankovic.
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