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Archive for October, 2010
Clijsters ends Stosur’s run
31 October 2010
Belgian Kim Clijsters has overcome a car crash to end Samantha Stosur's title charge at the WTA Championships in Doha. Clijsters' courtesy car was struck so heavily it was abandoned by the side of road before the US Open champion recovered from the scare to down Stosur 7-6(3) 6-1 in their semifinal on Saturday. "We just had a car accident on our way to the courts! So scary......Bob, my manager took the hit," Clijsters said on Twitter. "We are all okay ....Just the car is ready for the junk yard," she concluded. Clijsters will now play world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the title match after the Dane beat the second-ranked Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-0 in the second semifinal. The first Australian to reach the last four at the eight-woman season finale in 28 years, Stosur had been bidding to emulate the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley's championship efforts of 1974 and 1976. Instead, Clijsters has the chance to collect a third title, after going back-to-back in 2002-03 in Los Angeles. Despite the defeat, Stosur will rise one place in the rankings and end the season at No.6 in the world, just one spot below her career-high of fifth that the 26-year-old reached in July. Australia's French Open runner-up laid down a stern challenge to Clijsters in a high-quality 60-minute opening set. Alas for Stosur, a matter of millimetres on two huge points ultimately decided it in the Belgian's favour. After surrendering a 3-0 advantage, Stosur rebounded impressively to conjure a set point at 5-4 on Clijsters' serve. Stosur thought she'd won the set when Clijsters caught the line with a backhand down the line, the Australian unsuccessfully challenging the call. Clijsters again caught the line to grab a decisive break late in the tiebreaker to pocket the opening set and Stosur was unable to sustain her high level in the second, dropping serve in the second and sixth games. Stosur said while it was "always a little bit disappointing" to bow out of a tournament, victories over Wozniacki and her French Open final conqueror Francesca Schiavone on her singles debut at the championships were a great way to end the year. "I'm pleased with the way that I've played here," she said. "It's always important to do well against those kind of players, no matter what tournament is. "But the last one of the year, everyone wants to do well. You always want to finish on a good note rather than a bad one. "To be able to do that, it's pleasing."Q&A with Sam
29 October 2010
Sam chats about making it to the semis, the possibility of adding her name to the end-of-season championships honour roll and the increasing demands from the media. Must be a great thrill to get through to the semifinals. First Australian in plenty of years. Yeah, for sure. That was the goal coming here, to try and get through the round robin. I've achieved that now, so I'm very pleased to at least play a fourth match. We'll see what happens from there. You didn't quite have the same intensity tonight. Where did you feel it went awry? Yeah, it was a different feeling out there at the start of the match. I kept trying to get going, and for the most part, you know, felt obviously into it and tried my hardest. In the end it was a good match. I think we both were kind of a bit off throughout certain periods throughout the match. Were you aware that you just needed to win one set to get through to the semis? Yeah, I mean, I did know that, so I was obviously happy once I won that first set, but wanted to really win the match. That probably shows by going 6 in the third. In the end, it's still a positive and I'm through. Yeah, you always want to win the matches when you're on the court. Quite a few legends on the honor roll. Have you actually had a look at the honor roll? Well, I know pretty much who's on it, so, yeah, it would be I don't know what it would be like to have my name up there as well. That's what I'm trying to do. If it does, then I'll be very proud of that. Does losing stall your momentum or jolt your confidence going into the semifinals? Um, no, I don't think so. Yeah, I would have preferred to have won, there's not doubt. But to lose 6 in the third, it's not fun, but at least you know it's a matter of a few points here and there. You know, I know at 5 4, Love 30 I was two points from winning the match and definitely had some chances to go ahead and do better. You know that's tennis. I'm not going to dwell on it. I tried my hardest and didn't quite come off. That's what happens when you play quality opponents. You are quite a sort of private person and a little bit reserved on the outside. There's that sort of perception of you. Do you get any more comfortable with this kind of thing now? I think that award involves media stuff as well and sponsor appearances. Are you growing into that side of being a top 10er? Yeah, I think so. I've always been a bit shy, and, yeah, don't really let myself go too much. I'm getting more used to it for sure. The last couple years there's definitely been more commitments you have to fulfil and things to do and all that kind of thing. I quite enjoy that side of things. Yeah, I guess it brings out another side of me, so it's fun. Yeah, it's what you have to do. Coming in here with not great form, would you have taken a semifinal if someone offered it to you at the start? Would that have been enough for you to be satisfied with the results of the week? Not necessarily. So, yeah, like I said right from the start, I knew that I wasn't far from turning it around. I've been able to do that now. Semis is great, but I think there is still a little bit left. I would love to try and get through that one. If you're in the final, you never know what can happen. I'm still hungry and still want to press for a little bit more.Stosur first into Doha semifinals
29 October 2010
Australian Samantha Stosur is the first player through to the semifinals of the WTA's season-ending championships in Doha despite losing her final group match against Elena Dementieva. After earlier round-robin victories over Francesca Schiavone and world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, Stosur only needed to win one set on Thursday to advance – and did so in a 4-6 6-4 7-6(4) defeat at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. Stosur's semifinal opponent is yet to be decided, but it's likely she'll play either world No.2 Vera Zvonareva or three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters on Saturday. Stosur is the first Australian woman to reach the last four at a season-ending singles championship since Wendy Turnbull in 1982. News: Stosur wins WTA Diamond ACES award Already the owner of two season-ending doubles titles, the 26-year-old Queenslander is now bidding to join Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1974 and 1976) as only the second Australian to win a singles crown. Stosur looked set for an early night after jumping to a 4-1 lead in the opening set against Dementieva. A 10-times qualifier of the event, Dementieva was battling an ankle injury, coming off a 6-1 6-1 loss to Wozniacki in her opening match on Tuesday and looked out of this contest as well. But Stosur gifted her a break in the seventh game, ending a run of 21 straight service holds for the Australian stretching back to her first set of the tournament, to rekindle the Russian's interest. Even after dropping the first set, Dementieva refused to go away, grabbing a further two service breaks in the second set to put the match back on level terms. Not to be denied, Dementieva won the tiebreaker to seal the match after two hours and 42 minutes to keep her own semifinal hopes alive. It was the fifth consecutive meeting between the two that went the distance, although not quite as dramatic as their most recent encounter when Stosur saved four match points before prevailing in a fourth-round thriller at the US Open last month.Sam is a diamond ace
29 October 2010
Sam Stosur’s tireless work off the court promoting tennis to fans, media, and local communities has won her the WTA’s Diamond ACES Award for 2010. "It’s a really nice feeling to receive this award as it is very important for players to give back to the sport and do everything we can to grow it and promote it globally,” said World No.7 Stosur. WTA CEO Stacey Allaster presented Stosur with the award in Doha where the Queenslander is through to the semifinals of the season-ending championships. “Sam is not only one of the world’s best athletes, she is extremely aware of the opportunity of giving back to women’s tennis and connecting the sport with media and sponsors. It is because of athletes like Sam that the WTA has so many fans around the world,” said Allaster. Stosur is Tennis Australia’s Facilities Ambassador – a role that sees Stosur promoting the repairing and building of tennis courts around the country. “This is a terrific program that is helping tennis all over Australia and I’d like to think I can help make a difference,” said Stosur. “If we can keep building new courts and fixing some of those that are in need of repair it will give kids more and more opportunities to play on quality surfaces.” Stosur will visit Launceston’s new $2.4 million regional tennis centre on Monday 31 January 2011. So far the courts and facilities program has approved 904 courts for upgrades and generated $148.5 million in funding for facilities in the past three years.Q&A with Sam
28 October 2010
Sam answers questions about her win over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, what she's been doing off the court and her thoughts on messages fans have been leaving on her website. This was even better than yesterday. You must be pretty thrilled? Yeah, very, very happy with tonight's performance. Obviously got off to a much better start and hung in there when I had all those breakpoints against me in the first set. I think that just kept the momentum going in my favor. Soon as I got a chance, I took it. Yeah, very happy overall with the whole match. Can you tell us a bit about what it has been like in Doha so far? It’s a very different compared to some of the places around the world we get to play. It’s very hot, humid, the conditions aren’t easy and when you’re not on the court it’s hard to escape the heat. It’s fun being here, we get very well looked after at the Championships, so it’s a nice week to be able to end the year. Have you had a chance to have a look at any of the messages of support posted on your website during the Championships? Yes, I try to get on the site and have a look at the comments and everyone is very supportive. I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to go to my site and I enjoy reading everyone’s comments – so keep them coming and keep watching! I guess in this sort of form you must be able to think you can go all the way? Yeah, it definitely gives you more hope and lots of confidence. If you can, you know, beat a player like Caroline in straight sets here at such a big event, then it's fantastic. I've got obviously one more round-robin match tomorrow, and hopefully I can find myself in the semis. Obviously it's been a season of firsts - you've won against two world No. 1s this year. That's another feather in your cap. Ah, that's cool. Yeah, it's a good achievement. Whenever you can do that in your career, that's a good thing. Like I said, I guess to do it here and at the French, they're two big tournaments where it means a lot to everyone who's competing. So very, very pleased with that. Are you surprised by how well you've been able to turn it around? You didn't come in with the greatest form. Yeah, well, I don't know. I think it's something that you always want to be able to turn around. I guess when you haven't been playing so well leading up to a big event, there's maybe that a little bit of doubt. But like I said, I had always been practicing well and doing all the right things. I was hopeful that it would turn around soon. Like I said, I had one more week do it. So now I think it's safe to say I've been able to find my form right at the right time, and that's very pleasing. What have you been up to off the court? Is it different being here as a singles player as opposed to doubles? Yes, there is a little more to it being here in the singles event. We had the nice draw and opening ceremony on Sunday night, which was great, it was actually a really good evening. We got well looked after with our hair and makeup done, so that was always going to be fun. So apart from that just practicing, resting as much as I can and going to the Noodle House for lunch the last three days! I think we’ve found our habit for the week and we’re sticking to it!Stosur tops No.1 Wozniacki
28 October 2010
Much more than a one-hit wonder, Samantha Stosur crashed Caroline Wozniacki's party at the WTA Championships to become the first player this year to conquer two world No.1s. Oozing confidence after a 6-4 6-3 destruction of Wozniacki maintained her unbeaten record in Doha, Stosur said there was no reason she couldn't go all the way and break Australia's 34-year title drought at the women's season-ending championship. "It's all coming together," Stosur said after soaring to the top of the Maroon Group with her second successive straight-sets win. "If I can get through this group, then I think anyone's got a chance, so I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully I can keep playing like this. "It's safe to say I've been able to find my form right at the right time ... if you can beat a player like Caroline in straight sets here at such a big event, then it's fantastic. "It definitely gives you more hope and lots of confidence." Wozniacki had won 30 of her previous 32 matches, a hot run that yielded the Dane five titles since Wimbledon and had her poised to clinch the year-end No.1 ranking with victory over Stosur. But like French Open champion Francesca Schiavone discovered in a 6-4 6-4 defeat on Tuesday, Wozniacki had no answer to the Australian's firepower, Stosur plundering five aces and countless other unreturnable serves and forehand winners. "She was serving well definitely," Wozniacki said. "In the second set, I just found it difficult to return her serves. And she's hitting with a lot of spin. "She's playing different than the other girls." Stosur also upset the then top-ranked Serena Williams in the French Open quarterfinals in what proved to be the American superstar's only Grand Slam loss of the year. "Yeah, it's a good achievement. Whenever you can do that in your career, that's a good thing," Stosur said. "But I guess to do it here and at the French, they're two big tournaments where it means a lot to everyone who's competing, so I'm very, very pleased with that." The fifth seed was scheduled to face struggling Russian Elena Dementieva in her final round-robin match on Thursday (1 am Friday AEDT) and only needed to win one set to secure a semi-final berth in her maiden singles appearance at the prestigious season finale. Even a narrow loss was likely to be enough for Stosur to progress in her quest to join Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1974 and 1976) as the only Australian on the honour roll. The 26-year-old collected two season-ending doubles titles in 2005-06 with American Lisa Raymond and a singles crown would complete a rare double that only Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Jana Novotna and Lindsay Davenport can boast. For Wozniacki, the champagne remained on ice after second seed Vera Zvonareva beat Victoria Azarenka 7-6(4) 6-4 to join Stosur with a two-from-two record and remain a mathematical chance of snatching the year-end top ranking. In Wednesday's other match, two-time champion Kim Clijsters launched her bid for a third WTA Championship with a 6-2 6-3 win over Jelena Jankovic.In full flight
27 October 2010
Australian hope Samantha Stosur made a winning start as Great Dane Caroline Wozniacki closed in on the year-end world No.1 ranking on the opening day of the WTA Championships in Doha. Stosur got one back on her French Open final conqueror Francesca Schiavone, recovering from a slow start to overpower the Italian 6-4 6-4 after top seed Wozniacki blitzed an ailing Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-1 in 53 minutes. Stosur, the first Australian woman since Wendy Turnbull in 1985 to qualify for the season-ending singles championship, won just three points in the first four games to quickly fall behind 4-0 against Schiavone. But the fifth seed steamed back to win six straight games to take the opening set before grabbing the decisive break in the ninth game of the second and serving out the match after one hour, 33 minutes. Stosur pocketed a cool USD$200,000 (AUD$202,000) for her day's efforts – USD$100,000 for the win and another USD$100,000 merely for turning up. Most importantly, Stosur picked up a bagful of valuable rankings points and progressed to within one more group win of a probable semifinal appearance in the Qatar capital. Next up for Stosur on Wednesday (5 am Thursday AEDT) is Wozniacki, who herself requires only one more round-robin win to clinch the top ranking for 2010. Russian second seed Vera Zvonareva crunched struggling Serb Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-0 in the only other match on day one of the eight-woman round-robin event at the Khalifa Tennis Centre.Q&A with Sam in Doha
26 October 2010
Sam faces the press in Doha where she answers questions about her expectations for the event, her chances of being No.1 and the importance of Billie Jean King's contribution to tennis and the forming of the WTA. How do you rate getting to the year end Championships for the first time along with reaching a Grand Slam final as the best things that you've ever done? Yeah, I think for sure it's definitely very high up on the list of achievements that I've been able to make. It shows that you've had a great year, so they're two kind of different things, but both very rewarding. What's the key to getting here? Is it physical fitness or planning your schedule or what? I think it's a mixture of things. Obviously you've got to stay healthy for a big period of the year to be able to play enough events and do well and obviously have enough wins. I think scheduling plays a big part as well, and, yeah, I guess performing at the big events. This year I've had some really good results in big tournaments, and also missed a few and not done so well. So I think to be able to make it still with not being able to play a couple of those big tournaments I think kind of shows that I've had a good year. Coming into the tournament, what's your expectations for this? What's the key to winning it for you? I would love to obviously get through the round robin stage. From there you never know. First things first. You've got to play three matches and see how you go there. It's tough conditions outside. It's very hot and humid. So I think conditioning and really being able to get used to the heat before playing those matches is going to be key. And then you've got to play well. You're playing the best players in the world, so you can't go out there and, I guess, play averagely and expect to get through. I think in a way that kind of takes pressure off, knowing that you have to play well to get through. Yeah, you've got to give it your best and go for it. I think the players who can I guess do that day in, day out through this round robin period will be the ones to get through. You've already played in this event a couple of times in doubles. You won it. What's the difference? Were you at times jealous about the other girls playing the singles tournament here? Sure, I would have always loved to be here for singles and not just doubles. Yeah, it's a little bit different being in the singles when obviously you have all of this kind of stuff to do. A lot more goes into the singles event than the doubles. I think maybe having a little taste in the previous years is gonna help me hopefully. Yeah, I guess it's an extra a little bit special being in the singles event. With it being 40 years on since the original Virginia Slims event which Billie Jean King started, what respect do the current players have for the original nine that broke away 40 years ago? Without them, who knows if we would be here now or whether it would be who knows when this could have or may have happened. I think we've really got to say thank you to those nine, especially Billie Jean, to stand up not just for women's tennis but women in general. Does seeing Wozniacki get to No. 1 give you extra encouragement that even though you're older you still have it in you to get to the top? Yeah, I would like to think so. I'm where I am now and definitely striving to get higher. Yeah, I'm a little bit older than Caroline, but I still feel young enough to be able to play out here for another four or five years yet. It's the best time of my career so far, so I think to be able to look forward and ahead is, yeah, it's bright, I think. If I can keep going the way I'm going, hopefully I can get up there or close to there as well.Stosur treating Doha like fifth major
25 October 2010
Australian tennis ace Samantha Stosur has a Grand-Slam focus heading into this week's season-ending championships in Doha. Stosur is treating the tour finale like a fifth major and says victory in the prestigious eight-woman round-robin event would be "the icing on the cake" after a watershed season for the 26-year-old French Open runner-up. "It's like a mini Grand Slam in many ways and there will be no easy matches, that's for sure," Stosur told AAP on Monday. "I'm very pumped and excited to be here. It's a privilege to be amongst the top-eight players and to know that every single match for the week is going to be pretty special. "I've already had a great year - one title and two finals - but this would be the highlight if I was to end up winning it. That would really be the icing on the cake." A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion, Stosur has been handed a favourable draw for her maiden singles appearance at the tour championships. While the Queenslander has landed in the maroon group alongside world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, her Roland Garros final conqueror Francesca Schiavone plus Elena Dementieva, Stosur could have fared much worse. The only two players in the tournament who Stosur has never beaten are both in the white group. US Open champion Kim Clijsters and in-form Victoria Azarenka - fresh from collecting her second title of the year on Sunday in Moscow - each lead Stosur 4-0 head-to-head, but are both in the other pool alongside Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva. "I don't know if there is a good group or a bad group," Stosur said. "But obviously I have played all these players before and, except for two of them, had success. "Every match is going to be difficult and you're going to have to give it your best shot every time. "Everyone here is here because they've had good results this year." In the absence of injured pair Serena and Venus Williams, only Zvonareva - who was runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open - is in a position to challenge Wozniacki for the year-end No.1 ranking. Wozniacki will be guaranteed top spot with two round-robin wins from her preliminary matches against Stosur, Schiavone and Dementieva. But with no rankings points to defend, having not qualified last year, fifth-seeded Stosur could finish the season as high as No.2 with an unbeaten campaign in the Gulf. The top two players from each group will advance to Saturday's semifinals, with the tournament's climax taking place on Sunday at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. In addition to a stack of rankings points, big money is up for grabs in the tour finale, with an undefeated champion able to earn as much as USD$1.55 million. Stosur, who won the season-ending doubles title in 2005 with American Lisa Raymond, is guaranteed USD$100,000 (AUD$101,657) just for qualifying and will pocket a further USD$100,000 for every group win. After a season of milestones, Stosur will be striving to become the first Australian woman to win the season-ending championship since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976. Round-robin play commences on Tuesday.Stosur in maroon group
25 October 2010
Samantha Stosur has been handed a favourable draw for her maiden appearance in the women's singles at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha. While the eighth-ranked Stosur has landed in the Maroon Group alongside world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, her French Open final conqueror Francesca Schiavone and Russian Elena Dementieva, the Queenslander's draw could have been far worse. The only two players in the eight-woman event whom Stosur has never beaten are both in the White Group for the round-robin hardcourt event. US Open champion Kim Clijsters and Belarussian Victoria Azarenka each lead Stosur 4-0 head-to-head, but they are grouped with Serbian Jelena Jankovic and Russian Vera Zvonareva. The top two players from each group will advance to Saturday's semi-finals, with the tournament's climax taking place on Sunday at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. In addition to a stack of rankings points, big money is up for grabs in the tour finale, with an undefeated champion able to earn as much as $US1.55 million. Stosur, who won the season-ending doubles title in 2005 with American Lisa Raymond, is guaranteed $US100,000 just for qualifying and will pocket a further $US100,000 for every group win. After a season of milestones, 26-year-old Stosur will be striving to become the first Australian woman to win the season-ending championship since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976. Round-robin play commences on Tuesday.Site Information
- Tennis Australia
- tennis.com.au
- Australian Open
- Australian Open Series
- Brisbane International
- Medibank International
- Hobart International
- Player sites
- Jelena Dokic
- Casey Dellacqua
- Bernard Tomic