Top ten Tennis matches of 2010 – Part 3
French Open ladies quarterfinals: Samantha Stosur vs. Serena Williams
At Roland Garros 2010, most fans favoured Serena Williams as the likely champion of the clay Grand Slam. Their beliefs were only strengthened when Australian pro Samantha Stosur defeated Justine Henin in the fourth round of the event to set up a quarterfinal
match against Williams.
Consequently, Samantha Stosur found herself battling Serena Williams on the clay courts of Roland Garros, with a chance to defeat the champion.
Stosur kicked off the match impressively, taking away first 17 points. She also broke Serena’s serve twice and eventually won the first set 6-2. In the second set, Stosur rose to the occasion by taking a quick 5-3 lead. Serena was severely struggling as
she tried to keep up with her opponents powerful, deep strokes.
However, the thought of winning the match seemed to deter Stosur and her gameplay changed drastically. Rather than fighting for her points and playing to win, she began to play just to stay in the match. Serena took advantage of this opportunity to defeat
the Australian in the second set and to gain her grip on the match.
When Serena Williams had a match point on her opponent’s serve in the third set, every spectator assumed that Stosur had thrown in the towel and that the American tennis pro would win the match. However, the Aussie player astonished everyone in the arena
by fighting Williams to 5-5, and then taking the match to 6-6. As the French Open has no tiebreaker, the two players played on and on for a win.
Eventually, Serena Williams tripped up to double fault her service game, giving Stosur a lead, and eventually both the set and the match. Stosur went on to defeat another former World Number 1, Serbian Jelena Jankovic, in the semi-finals of Roland Garros.
This series of wins brought on a new era for Stosur who climbed up the WTA rankings into the top eight players.
French Open ladies final: Francesca Schiavone vs. Samantha Stosur
This year, the two most dominating names at the French Open were Samantha Stosur and Francesca Schiavone.
Stosur had defeated a number of former world number 1s in her 2010 campaign at Roland Garros including Jelena Jankovic and Justine Henin. Her crowning glory was her defeat of then World Number 1 Serena Williams.
On the other hand, the Italian player had performed equally well. She defeated third seed Caroline Wozniacki, followed by a win over fifth seed Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
Stosur had played so impressively throughout the tournament that most pundits discarded Schiavone’s entrance into the final of the French Open as a mere fluke. She had never progressed beyond the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam and had only triumphed at one
Tier 1 title in her career.
However as the event went on, Schiavone’s pile of wins began to give her confidence. She understood that as the underdog, she had everything to gain and nothing to lose at the title match. Consequently, she went out on the court with a baseline strategy,
which worked spectacularly to cut off Stosur’s big serves.
The Italian pro played with a marked defiance and determination, unwilling to let a single point go. She stunned Stosur when she won the championship in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.
Schiavone’s success marks the first instance of an Italian woman winning the French Open. It is also termed as the most impressive and improbable win in the history of Roland Garros.
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