Samantha Stosur into French Open semis
By Darren Walton, 6 Jun 2012 Darren Walton is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Dominika Cibulkova, French Open, Samantha Stosur, Tennis
Australian tennis star Samantha Stosur has powered into the French Open semi-finals with a straight-sets disposal of Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.
The US Open champion continued her authoritative march through the draw with a comprehensive 6-4 6-1 victory over the 15th seed on Tuesday.
Stosur will face Sara Errani on Thursday for a place in Saturday’s title match after the Italian downed German 10th seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in Tuesday’s other quarter-final.
“I’m very, very pleased with the way I played today and to get through,” Stosur said.
“She runs very fast, she’s got quick legs, likes to be aggressive and hit that forehand so you’ve got to make sure you hit the right shots at the right time.
“The last few years have been very good to me in Paris. I love playing on this court and it doesn’t get any better than this.”
The only player in the women’s draw yet to drop a set this campaign, Stosur will be a warm favourite in her third semi-final in four years at Roland Garros.
The 2010 runner-up holds a dominant winning record over Errani, conquering the 21st seed in all five previous career encounters.
Cibulkova had upset world No.1 Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round and made the semi-finals in Paris three years ago.
But Stosur simply had too many weapons for the diminutive Slovak.
Playing with controlled aggression, Stosur grabbed the first service break of the match in the fifth game as Cibulkova’s defensive moonballing tactics backfired.
Stosur wobbled trying to serve out the set at 5-2, but held her nerve to stave off three more break-back points in the 10th game to pocket the opening set with a scorching backhand winner that caught the line.
The world No.6 recovered from love-40 down in the opening game of the second set to hold and then rifled a backhand down the line to break Cibulkova again to go up 2-1.
The end was nigh for Cibulkova when Stosur nabbed a double break with two big forehands to charge to a 4-1 advantage.
The Australian broke Cibulkova again to close out the quarter-final in one hour and 25 minutes for her 18th win from 22 claycourt matches in 2012.
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The Crowd Says (11) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Dominika Cibulkova, French Open, Samantha Stosur, Tennis
June 6th 2012 @ 2:36am
Jonny G said | June 6th 2012 @ 2:36am | Report comment
Well Done Sam, cheered me up after the Wallabies loss
June 6th 2012 @ 8:56am
JamesJackson said | June 6th 2012 @ 8:56am | Report comment
+1. Sam is on a roll. Unfortunately Sam is one of those players that no matter how irresistible she is or how on song she is, she can implode. She is one of those paradoxical players where form means everything, but it also means nothing.
Let’s hope she gets rid of that stigma with a big win in the semi and the final!
June 6th 2012 @ 4:28pm
jameswm said | June 6th 2012 @ 4:28pm | Report comment
What stigma? She won the US Open last year. Doesn’t that help?
June 7th 2012 @ 1:09am
amazonfan said | June 7th 2012 @ 1:09am | Report comment
It should, however some people can be very unforgiving.
June 7th 2012 @ 1:22am
Johnno said | June 7th 2012 @ 1:22am | Report comment
She is a chocker at times amzaon as proven by her choke at the 2010 french open final when she lost to the unheralded itlaian player schiavone.
Schiavone was an unheralded player a journeywoman at best, and stosur was outclassed by the Itlalian who played beat her in fact destroyed her in the final especially in the 2nd set of that match i watched the whole match amazonfan.
So stosur does implode as proven by losing to an average journey woman player like Schiavone. Some even say Stosur was unlucky Stosur that day that she caught a player in unbeateable hot form the type of form that you have only maybe once in your career.
Or schiavone had the match of her life that no one could of beat her that day is that really true amazonfan about Schiavone you tell me,
June 7th 2012 @ 1:52am
amazonfan said | June 7th 2012 @ 1:52am | Report comment
You cited just one example of her choking. However I don’t think it means anything.
She lost at the French. Perhaps she choked, perhaps she was simply outclassed (and BTW, there have been quite a few examples of ‘unheralded players’ winning slams). Regardless, Stosur went on to win the US, and so any talk now of her choking is irrelevant.
“Or schiavone had the match of her life that no one could of beat her that day is that really true amazonfan about Schiavone you tell me,”
Perhaps it is true. Nobody is unbeatable. The fact is that most top players, when playing at the peak of their powers, can beat anyone if the circumstances are right.
One last comment. Pressure can get to a lot of people. Personally, I generally avoid throwing around the ‘choker’ word until someone wilts under pressure time and time again. I mean, even if she choked at the French, it does not make her a choker.
June 7th 2012 @ 9:00am
jameswm said | June 7th 2012 @ 9:00am | Report comment
I remember Hewitt winning the US Open. I think it was Sampras he hammered in the final. Does that make Sampras a choker? Hewitt was pretty unheralded, and had the match of his life.
June 7th 2012 @ 3:18pm
clipper said | June 7th 2012 @ 3:18pm | Report comment
jameswm – certainly Hewitt played a great match then, but Sampras was hammered the previous year as well by Safin and Hewitt went on to have two years as No. 1, so you could just say that apart from Agassi, the depth wasn’t there against Sampras.
June 6th 2012 @ 11:52am
Winston said | June 6th 2012 @ 11:52am | Report comment
I actually thought her odds would be better if she played Azarenka rather than Cibulkova. Rightly or wrongly, I tend to classify her as one of those people who plays well against good players but crap against mediocre ones. Well done anyway.
June 6th 2012 @ 4:29pm
jameswm said | June 6th 2012 @ 4:29pm | Report comment
She’s played pretty well against mediocre opposition this tournament.
June 6th 2012 @ 1:04pm
Matt F said | June 6th 2012 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
This tournament’s had a very similar trend to the US Open which she won last year. Like in New York, her side of the draw has opened up nicely thanks to the other big names around her falling over and she’s been able to hold her nerve and is looking in great shape. Errani won’t be easy though. She’s having a career best year, making the QF at the Aus Open and having won 3 titles already this year, all on clay. Sam should be too good for her if she plays to her best but if she’s a fraction off her game, Errani is good enough to take advantage.
The other side of the draw is interesting. It should end up with a Kvitova vs Sharapova semi but given the upsets in the women’s draw so far, you never know!