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Australian Samantha Stosur says her recommitment to the mental side of her game is paying off in Paris.
Stosur, eighth seed Ashleigh Barty and wildcard Priscilla Hon will all feature in women’s French Open second round matches on day five.
Australian world No.69 Jordan Thompson will do his best on Thursday to topple 40-year-old ace machine Ivo Karlovic, who became the oldest male winner at Roland Garros since 1973 earlier this week.
Barty won’t have it all her own way against Australian Open semi-finalist Danielle Collins while Hon meets 14th seeded American Madison Keys.
Of those four only Stosur has progressed beyond the second round in Paris.
Better than that, the 35-year-old has never missed the third round in her last 10 visits to Roland Garros and boasts a final and three other semi-final appearances at the grand slam.
Her fondness for the Paris clay showed in an impressive first-up defeat of battle-hardened Barbora Strycova on Monday, with little-known Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova her next assignment.
Stosur has no plans to announce retirement any time soon but needs wins to ensure she doesn’t slip outside the world’s top 100 and miss automatic entry to grand slams.
It is pressure like that the former world No.4 has done her best to swipe away, although she admits the mental battles have always been tough to fend off.
“Just mentality and attitude and going on court (thinking) ‘what am I trying to do?’,” she said of her recent focus.
“A lot of the things you work on while you’re on court are your forehands, backhands and all that.
“But there’s a lot of things behind the scenes that are just as important and have been a big focus lately.”
“To prove to myself I can do those things that I sometimes struggle with, I did (in the first round) and that obviously gives you hope.”
The quartet will vie to ensure some third-round representation for Australia after young duo Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur – who with a combined age of 39 are still younger than Karlovic – were both humbled on Wednesday.
Popyrin lost in three tight sets – 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 – to impressive 31st seed Laslo Djere while fellow Spain-based youngster de Minaur was no match for Pablo Carreno Busta.
Clay court pro Carreno Busta won the contest’s first nine points and never looked back, dominating the 21st seed 6-3 6-1 6-1.
AUSSIES IN ACTION ON DAY FIVE – (PREFIX DENOTES SEEDING)
* Samantha Stosur v Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS)
* 8-Ashleigh Barty v Danielle Collins (USA)
* Priscilla Hon v 14-Madison Keys (USA)
* Jordan Thompson v Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
HOW THE AUSSIES FARED ON DAY FOUR
* 31-Laslo Djere (SRB) d Alexei Popyrin 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-4
* P Carreno Busta (ESP) d 21-Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-1 6-1
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