Stosur's poor form continues
January 09, 2012 11:46:32 UK
Samantha Stosur has been unable to put together a decent string of results so far in 2012 and her poor form continued in the Sydney International tournament.
She was easily beaten in the opening round by her old nemesis Francesca Schiavone. The US Open champion was clearly out of sorts and her normally reliable serve was all over the place. She was broken five times by the Italian woman, who progressed to the second round with a 6-2 6-4 victory in an hour and 30 minutes of play.
Stosur is 17.00 to win the Australian Open later this month, while Serena Williams is 5.00 and Petra Kvitova 3.50.
I think being in Australia and playing in Australia, I want to play the best I can play and do it all here this month right here right now.
Samantha Stosur
In last week's Brisbane International tournament, Stosur was ousted by the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova in straight sets, and her poor form ahead of the Australian Open must be of concern to her.
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The 27-year-old broke her Grand Slam duck last year by beating Serena Williams in the US Open final and now that people expect her to deliver, she admits that the pressure is starting to catch up on her.
"Today I certainly didn't handle that side of things at all well," she said. "I think being in Australia and playing in Australia, I want to play the best I can play and do it all here this month right here right now.
"Then when it doesn't happen, it's obviously disappointing. It probably makes it more disappointing here than anywhere else."
The Queenslander added: "I guess that's all part of it, isn't it? Would I choose to be playing big tournaments in Australia rather than not? Of course I would. But I want to make it all good, too."
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