Stosur Storms Past Cibulkova & Into SFs
Original link: ( http://www.wtatennis.com/news/20120605/stosur-storms-past-cibulkova-into-sfs_2256076_2798171 )
PARIS, France – Her kick serves and huge topspin forehands made even more lethal on the clay of Court Philippe Chatrier, Sam Stosur stormed into the semifinals of the French Open on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, hanging on to take the first set then rolling past Dominika Cibulkova for a 64 61 win.
A former finalist at Roland Garros, in fact the only player left to have reached the finals here before, the No.6-seeded Stosur came out firing, building a 5-2 first set lead. Cibulkova caught up to 5-4 and held three points for 5-all, but Stosur closed the set out then cruised, losing the first game of the second set but then taking six games in a row to finish off the No.15-seeded Slovak.
“She was giving me a little bit of court to use standing where she was to return my serve,” Stosur said. “Having said that, she still got the ball back pretty deep a lot of the time and hit some good, penetrating groundstrokes. But it still let me open up the court and go the other way to get her running off the first shot.
“I woke up feeling good this morning and had a good warm-up, and I guess that kind of transferred onto the match court. I really did what I wanted to do.”
Stosur finished the match with 30 winners to just 13 unforced errors.
“I have to say that she played unbelievable today,” Cibulkova said after the match. “Her topspin and her serve, it was really hard to play against. It was driving me crazy on the court today. It was really, really hard. Really tough.
“Her kick gets me out of the court so much, I can’t do anything.”
Stosur only getting better as the match went on can be quantified in a stat – she is 47-0 at Grand Slams after winning the first set. “I guess that’s a great stat to have – it just shows I try to get off to a good start whenever possible, and when I do that, I can really impose my play. It’s tricky for them to try and beat me if you look at that stat, so it’s a nice thing to have in the back of your head.
“But you always want to come back when you lose the first set too.”
Stosur is now through to her fourth Grand Slam semifinal, and third here – she was a semifinalist in 2009 (losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova), a finalist in 2010 (losing to Francesca Schiavone) and now a semifinalist again. Her only other time going this far at a Slam was at last year’s US Open, which she won.
Cibulkova not only reached the fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career at Roland Garros this year, she also got her third career win over a reigning World No.1, beating Victoria Azarenka in straight sets in the fourth round.
Next up for Stosur is No.21 seed Sara Errani, who defeated No.10 seed Angelique Kerber later in the day. Stosur is 5-0 lifetime against Errani.
“I’ve had success against her in the past, but the semifinals of Roland Garros is a whole new ballgame,” Stosur said of the looming duel. “You can think about the past and the history of the matches, but if something changes when you’re out on the court, you have to be aware of that and adjust, too. So I’m just going to try to play aggressive and play my game. I have to be ready.
“Sara is having a breakthrough year, making quarterfinals of the Australian Open and now here. You’ve got to respect that and be aware of that.”
Topics: Dominika Cibulkova, Roland Garros, Samantha Stosur
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