Australian Tennis Star Samantha Stosur
Her Singles Career is on the Rise While Remaining a Doubles Success
Jul 31, 2009
The 25-year-old Australian is still looking for her first singles title on the WTA Tour, 10 years after turning pro. She may have turned the corner in what she she called a "satisfying" victory during the quarterfinals of the 2009 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University.
Stosur ended second-ranked Serena Williams nine-match winning streak, which began at Wimbledon, with a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory.
"We don't always play our best tennis every day," Stosur said. "Maybe she didn't play as well as she can and I played well. It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest win of my career."
Successful Doubles Play Could Lead to Singles Title
Stosur, ranked 20th in the world, is a noted doubles player, having won 22 career titles, most of them with American Lisa Raymond (a two-time NCAA singles champion out of Florida) and shared the No. 1 doubles ranking with her partner in 2006 and 2007.
Stosur spent 61 consecutive weeks as the top-ranked doubles player until a viral illness knocked her out of the loop just as summer started in 2007. She also missed several events in 2008 before recovering enough to begin her current singles run.
She became the first Australian player to reach the semifinals of the French Open in 21 years when she did so earlier in 2009. Then she reached her career high ranking at No. 18.
Now she's in the semifinals at Stanford, where she will meet France's Marion Bartoli, a finalist in the event last year. A win would be Stosur's 250th of her career, a loss would be her 200th.
Stosur Strives to Succeed
"It's an accumulation of everything I have been working for," Stosur said. "I've worked to make my strengths stronger and my weaknesses less weak. The biggest thing this year is my self-belief."
Stosur and Baroli, born seven months apart in 1984 in different parts of the world, have played once before. Stosur beat her, 7-6 (2), 6-0, on the hardcourt in New Haven in 2006.
"She serves so huge you have to be at 100 percent," Bartoli said of Stosur. "She's on the rise."
A proven champion in doubles, Stosur hopes to parlay her recent success into first a Tour singles title and then another good run at a Grand Slam event.
Singles Success Against the Top Players
Stosur's win was her fifth against a Top 10 opponent and came after losing her previous two matches against Williams. She learned lessons from both losses.
"Both Serena and Venus are big, strong, aggressive and intimidating," Stosur said. "The more you play, though, the less a factor that is. If you believe in yourself you can avoid feeling intimidated."
Stosur remains committed to playing doubles and at the same time wants to continue working on her singles career.
"I don't want to cut it out because I enjoy playing doubles but I would also like to see what I can accomplish in singles."
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