Samantha Stosur did not intend to participate at the Southern California Open in Carlsbad this week but she secured a wildcard after making an early exit in Stanford last week and the move paid off.
The Australian would go on to win the title and even sweeter is that she had beaten Belarussian Victoria Azarenka for the first time in their nine meetings.
“I had planned just to go to Stanford, then take a week off and head back to my training base in Florida,” Stosur was quoted as saying.
“I was going to practice for a week before heading to Toronto and Cincinnati. But after not doing as well as I wanted to in Stanford, I thought coming here would be another good opportunity to play those matches and try and build on something this week. Being so close it was a good idea to come here and play, and obviously I’m very lucky to get that wildcard,” she added.
Stosur would go on to beat higher ranked opponents along the way – including second seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals, the top-seed Azarenka in the final.
“That’s something I have to be very happy with, to be able to step up to the line under that pressure and hit the serve where I want to, how I want to, time and time again,” Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, said. “I know what it feels like not to be able to break serve when you have opportunities, and it gets pretty frustrating.
“That was a huge part of that match, and carrying that from the first set to the second set as well,” she added.
