A determined Sam Stosur overcame Kai-Chen Chang in the first round at Melbourne Park. Picture: Michael Klein Source: The Australian
Sam Stosur waves to the crowd after winning her first-round match at the Australian Open. Source: AP
THERE was a nasal twang in Samantha Stosur's voice yesterday but for once it wasn't because she had been crying over a loss.
The 28-year-old, who had won only one match at home since she won the US Open in 2011, finally had a breakthrough yesterday and moved into the second round of the Australian Open.
The blocked nose and red eyes this time were from a head cold that is only now starting to clear up after five days.
And although she didn't think the 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win over Taiwan's Kai-Chen Chang was the most pressure she'd faced in the opening round of a slam - the first round in New York last August defending her US Open title probably took that vote - Stosur admitted she felt as if a fridge had been lifted from her shoulders.
VIDEO: Stosur through to second round
"Well, obviously I feel very happy, a little bit relieved, and, yeah, " she said.
After first-round exits in Sydney and Melbourne last year, then Brisbane and Sydney this year, if Stosur had failed for a fifth time she could well have taken up Margaret Court's advice and "gone fishing".
"Look, people get asked what their opinion is and they say it and it comes out there. I mean, it's fine. Everyone is entitled to think what they think," Stosur said.
"But, of course, I have a group of people around me I trust all year round not just during the summer of the Australian Open.
"Maybe some people had valid points, but at the end of the day, I'm always going to go back to who I know and who I trust the most."
To progress further, Stosur must overcome the woman who eclipsed her in Sydney and has reached the semi-finals before in Melbourne - China's Zheng Jie.
The Stosur game plan to turn around the Sydney result is simple.
"Look, I think there are a few things I can do better, like keep serving well.
"I wasn't too happy with my return last week in Sydney and overall I think just probably need to play a little bit better," she said.
In typical tennis fashion, publicly no one is looking ahead apart from their next match. But, in private, Stosur is well aware she faces Li Na as a possible fourth-round opponent.
"I'm not thinking about Li Na at all at the moment," Stosur said.
"I don't know who won that next match or if they have even played next for my second round. That (second round) is absolutely in the forefront of my mind at the moment rather than anything else further down the track."
Li, however, would be firmly in the thinking of coach David Taylor even if not in Stosur's thought processes just yet. The first Asian woman to win a grand slam title (2011 French Open) has linked with Carlos Rodriguez, who coached retired seven-time slam winner Justine Henin.
A copious note-taker in Sydney, where Li made the semi-finals, Rodriguez is rigorous on fitness. After an off-season where Li joked she wished her husband Jiang Shan was back coaching her, Rodriguez has worked on getting Li to approach the net more often.
Stosur needs to duplicate that if she's to beat Zheng. And she received good practice in facing Chang yesterday as the Taiwanese native prefers baseline rallies.
"That was one thing I did know going into the match, and I thought if I get a hit on the ball I have obviously got to play aggressive and be moving forward," Stosur said.
No comments:
Post a Comment