Stosur starts strongly in Stuttgart

Aussie Samantha Stosur needs less than an hour to defeat Shuai Peng in opening round as Mario Bartoli makes it through.

Samantha Stosur
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Stosur faces Germany’s Julia Goerges, the defending champion, in the next round [AFP]

US Open winner Samantha Stosur said she was happy with her start to Stuttgart’s WTA clay-court tournament on
Tuesday after seeing off China’s Shuai Peng in straight sets.

The 28-year-old Australian, who is the fifth seed here, needed less than an hour to see off Peng 6-2, 6-2 and was rarely tested by her Chinese opponent in her first round tie.

Having helped Australia to a 3-2 Fed Cup win over Germany on Stuttgart’s clay courts over the weekend, Stosur has been here for several days and, after winning both her Fed Cup singles matches, is happy with her form on the surface.

“It was good, I thought I played well and served well, it was nice to get through in straight sets,” said Brisbane-born Stosur.

“It was handy to have been here a week already, whereas a lot of the other girls were only arriving from Fed Cup on Monday night.

“It was handy to have been here a week already, whereas a lot of the other girls were only arriving from Fed Cup on Monday night”

Samantha Stosur

“Sometimes the best preparations don’t equate to the best performance, but you aren’t going to complain about playing Fed Cup in the same place as your next event.

“I played well over the weekend and managed to keep that going today, so far so good as far as the clay-court goes, so I am feeling good.”

In the second round, Stosur will face Germany’s Julia Goerges, the defending champion, who needed three sets to see off Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 after more than two hours.

“I had a long three-setter against Julia in the semi-final here last year and it will be extra hard playing a German here, said Stosur.

French qualifier Alize Cornet will face second-seed Maria Sharapova in the second round after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze.

And compatriot Mario Bartoli, the seventh-seed here, is also into the second round after her 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

Bartoli will face either ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic or Germany’s Mona Barthel in the second round.

Source: AFP