Will Samantha Stosur be able to redeem herself after an early Australian Open exit and fly the flag for Australia with a win over Slovak Jana Cepelova? Join The Roar for live scores from around 1:30am (AEDT).
World No.27 Samantha Stosur has had a difficult start to 2016. The 2011 US Open champion began the new calendar year at the Brisbane International where she defeated Cepelova before crashing out during the second round at the hands of eventual semi-finalist Carla Suarez Navarro.
The Australian then headed south to the Sydney International making her way through to the quarter-finals after victories over Roberta Vinci and Daniela Hantuchova before she fell to runner-up and qualifier Monica Puig in straight sets.
Stosur was unable to hit the ground running at the Australian Open losing to world No.102 Kristyna Pliskova during the first round in straight sets 4-6, 6-7.
Australia will be hoping she can help lift her country as they launch their bid for a spot in the 2017 Fed Cup World Group after their failed 2015 campaign saw them drop out of the top eight at the hands of the Netherlands.
Like Stosur, Jana Cepelova’s start to the season has so far been unsuccessful having begun the new year at Brisbane where she fell at the hands of the Australian in the first round following her qualification for the tournament which included a straight sets win over Margarita Gasparyan, who later went on to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Cepelova was unable to qualify for the first grand slam of 2016, losing out to Sachia Vickery in straight sets following a victory over Veronica Cepede Royg. The Slovak is currently ranked 132nd on the WTA Tour, and a win will consolidate her spot on the tour.
The pair have played each other twice winning once each. Most recently they played during the first round of this year’s Brisbane International with Stosur winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Their first meeting saw Cepelova victorious back in 2014 at Doha with a win in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Prediction
The match will no doubt be extremely close, expect Stosur to prevail and keep Australia’s World Group hopes alive.
Stosur in three sets.
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