Samantha Stosur feels the pain of defeat in Sydney. Source: Getty Images
HOME is where the heartbreak is for Sam Stosur, on the court at least.
Australia's top-ranked player took another hard loss at the Sydney International last night, bundled out in the first round for the third time in four years.
She has won just two matches in seven years at the traditional lead-up tournament to the Australian Open.
Stosur has proved she can win big matches in other parts of the world - she is both a US Open champion and a French Open finalist - but at home she whimpers more than she roars.
In the past, she has admitted that she struggles to deal with the expectations of the public when she is playing in Australia, although this loss, to China's world No 42 Zheng Jie in three hard-fought sets (6-3 6-7 6-4) may have had more to do with the surgery she underwent seven weeks ago to remove a bone spur on her left foot.
Going into last week's Brisbane International, the world No 9 had been back on court for only three weeks and warned that she was under-prepared.
She went out in straight sets there, to world No 41 Sofia Arvidsson.
An extra week on the practice court has brought some improvement, but not enough to allow her to vanquish the persistent Chinese, an Australian Open semi-finalist in 2010.
However, Stosur felt she was at least making progress.
"I would have loved to win but at least I won a set and was up a break in the third and gave myself a chance of winning tonight, which is a big step," Stosur said.
"This week I made a real effort to get out on the court more and I got somewhat of a reward because I played better tonight.
"I almost felt really good. I could let the arm go and I served quite well.
"Everything was a bit better."
After Zheng stole a march on her opponent in the first set, Stosur struck back in the second winning the tiebreak 9-7.
Both players struggled to hold their serves in a see-sawing third set but it was the gritty Zheng who best maintained her composure.
Stosur's limited preparation will at least ensure the weight of public expectations that have crushed her at the Australian Open in the past will be far lighter this year.
"I don't feel a huge amount of frustration or weight on my shoulders, and I couldn't have said that last year at this point," she said.
"I don't feel that overwhelming stress when I am out on court."
It was a particularly depressing day for the Australian contingent in Sydney.
All four players in action fell at the first hurdle.
Matthew Ebden was on the verge of victory against Spain's Marcel Granollers, up a set and a break, before he crashed to a 5-7 7-5 6-1 loss, while James Duck-worth also took the first set against Lleyton Hewitt's Brisbane conqueror Denis Istomin but couldn't quite go on with it and lost 6-7 6-4 7-6.
Casey Dellacqua fell to veteran Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-4 6-1.
No comments:
Post a Comment