Stosur Hoping for Fourth Straight Australian Honour

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 29th November 2013

Stosur Hoping for Fourth Straight Australian Honour

epa03916806 Samantha Stosur of Australia in action against Simona Halep of Romania during their final match at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia, 20 October 2013. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV |

Australian Samantha Stosur is dreaming of keeping her win streak alive in the Newcombe Medal stakes, an Aussie award she has claimed for the past three years since winning her US Open title. With the 29-year-old’s ranking now standing a distant 18th from the days of her best form, Stosur could use another medal as a boost to the approaching 2014 campaign.

Stosur began to show some old spark this past autumn winning the WTA Osaka title and getting into the Moscow and Sofia finals. “I’d looked at the year as a whole and thought it hadn’t been great, my ranking’s dropped, didn’t perform that great in the Grand Slams, especially the ones where I felt like I could’ve had a better showing,” she told Tennis.com.au. “But it was my best Wimbledon (third round) , the most comfortable I’ve ever felt playing there.

“I beat (Victoria) Azarenka and (Petra) Kvitova for the first time this year, and certain things I felt were going along quite well and then I guess at the end of the year that boosted everything by winning another title and making some more finals.”

Stosur is one of six playes in the mix for the award presented by John Newcombe, the iconic Aussie grand slam champion from three decades ago and a former Davis Cup captain. Others in the mix are a who’s who of the local game: Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic, junior Nick Kyrgios, Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Australia, Bernard Tomic, Davis Cup, John Newcombe, Lleyton Hewitt, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open, Victoria Azarenka, Wta