Anne Marie Stark
Stosur prefers to be a late bloomer.
Andy Roddick's return to competition made it look like he would sail through
the Washington Classic. But Juan Martin Del Potro stepped up with a three-set
final victory, as the Argentine inched out Roddick in the third-set tiebreak
3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6).
Del Potro was the defending champ but still
seems like an underdog to the revived American who pushed Roger Federer
in the Wimbledon final and took a month off to recharge his engine.
The mid-90s heat was a factor as the two big
hitters slugged it out. Del Potro's last point winner had to be settled
by video review.
"Today was brutal," said Roddick. "It was
hot. I think he might have been feeling it more than I did. He didn't
want to get in the long points and was going for broke there at the end.
He was rolling the dice. I forced him to play high-risk tennis with the
conditions. He was taking big cuts, especially for the last 30 minutes,
and connecting."
In Los Angeles, Sam Stosur lost her first
four Sony Ericsson WTA Tour finals and Sunday was no different as she
lost again, this time to Flavia Pennetta in straight sets in the LA Women's
Tennis Championships.Pennetta kept up a steady, forcing attack and watched
as the more sporadic Stosur lost her range and composure. Both players
were surprise finalists in a strong field, outlasting everyone from Dinara
Safina to to Vera Zvonareva to Victoria Azarenka.
Stosur made 32 unforced errors and neve seemed
to have an answer to Pennetta's steady ground strokes in the 6-4, 6-3
victory.
"I think my serve was very good today.
Almost all week it helped me a lot in the important points," said
Pennetta, who lost her serve just once in the final. "When I was
aggressive I won the points today. That was big step for me to improve
my game. I've played a few finals before... I was ready to play the final
today."
The Italian won her eighth title and biggest
of her career.
Stosur Crushes Cirstea in LA Semis Pennetta Takes Down Sharapova
FROM THE LA CHAMPIONSHIPS– Her serve kicks viciously. She can flatten
out a service bomb to the tune of 117 mph. She can whale an inside forehand,
stay steady off her backhand side, return efficiently and volley crisply.
So why hasn’t Samantha Stosur won a singles title yet?
In her easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea, Stosur
showed off all those elements, as well as cool head.
In reaching her first final of the year, she smoked seven aces and won
85 percent of her first serve points. Stosur easily won the first set,
taking three games at love, and after she broke Cirstea to 2-1 in the
second set, it was clear she would win the match.
“I played well and eliminated the things she could do to me,”
said Stosur. “I used my strengths as well as I can.”
Cirstea, who is being bothered by a case of plantar fasciitis on her right
foot and was moving gingerly, held her only two break points in the next
game, but made a forehand error and then after a lousy approach shot,
she was easily passed. The teenager was extremely sloppy then rest of
the way, and admittedly lost her head.
“I got a little frustrated because when you don’t take your
chances it’s tough,” Cirstea said. “Then I lost it.
I’m still young and need to learn with these situations. But the
way I was feeling I don’t know if I could have done much more.”
Stosur has reached four finals before, and has never been able to cash
in. She says that she’s more experienced now and should be able
to handle the pressure, but in prior times, she emotionally fell apart.
“You’ve got to have the same mentality every time you go on
court. The last one in Seoul I was a set and break up and got a little
ahead of myself and got away from what got me to that point. Since then
I’ve done a lot better closing out matches.”
The 25-year-old Australian has taken a long time to peak. The doubles
standout is currently ranked No. 19, but given her obvious talent level,
it’s not unreasonable to say that she should have entered the elite
ranks three years ago.
“My whole career I’ve been trying to get to this point and
looking at girls 17 to 19. it kind of looks like I've done it late , but
I don’t wish it happened four to five years early,” Stosur
said. “With the way I play, it took a little longer to develop.
I’ve always had a lot of options with my shots and it’s taken
a little longer to really understand my game and pull it all together.
If it just happens now that’s OK because I’ll be able to handle
it better than if I was 18.”
Alicia Molik was the last Aussie-born women’s player to crack the
top 10. Evonne Goolagong was the last Aussie woman to win a Slam, while
Lleyton Hewitt was the last Down Under mate to do so. That nation, so
rich in tennis tradition, is overdue another one.
“There’s not reason why I couldn’t get to where Alicia
got (No. 8),” said Stosur. “Having [Lleyton ] up there motivates
you and we lagged behind the men for a while but now [the women] are taking
the lead and being there for the Australian public.
Stosur will face the winner of the match between
Maria Sharapova and 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
Anne Marie Stark
Sharapova's tennis legs aren't quite at full strength.Pennetta
Exhausts Sharapova
Mara Sharapova clearly had little energy
left late in the third set of her battle with Maria Sharapova, but credit
the Italian veteran with hanging tough in the face of a relentless Sharapova
assault off the ground for the better part of two sets and for realizing
that if she got enough balls back deep and with meaning, that she could
win the contest.
That the 14th ranked Italian did, taking down the former No. 1 6-2, 4-6,
6-3. She admitted she was afraid of Sharapova’s vicious retrun of
serve, which is why she got the yips in the seodn set and the early part
fo the third, but her coach, Gabriel urpi, convinced her to clam down,
foucs on her game plan and step inside the court and attack when she got
a chance.
“To play against her I have to be very aggressive and in the second
set I started to wait for her mistakes and that’s why the match
changed so much,” said Pennetta, who reached the LA final last year,
falling to Dinara Safina. “I was thinking too much about her. I
needed play every point.”
Playing her eighth match in the past 12 days, Sharapova was clearly pressing,
as she let go of a 3-1 largely due to a slew of unforced errors. She double
faulted to be broken back to 3-2, double faulted again to be broken and
go behind 4-3, and was then was broken again to lose the contest when
she double faulted and missed a simple backhand.
“I didn’t feel fresh from the beginning of the match.”
said Sharapova, who double faulted 16 times in the contest and committed
61 unforced errors to only 23 from Pennetta. “I was surprised it
went to the third and I had my opportunities by I couldn’t close
it out. IN the first set, I was trying to be more aggressive, but I wasn’t
doing that well and when I was I was making too many errors off the forehand
and backhand and pushing it a little or being tentative. I wasn’t
reading the game well.”
Playing in her sixth tournament since returning from shoulder surgery
in mid-May, the 22-year-old Russian was heartened by her week overall,
where she won tough three-setters over Victoria Azarenka and Alona Bondarenko,
but she knows she has a few rough edges to smooth, especially her serve,
which has become the most hotly debated topic since Andy Roddick’s
formerly troubled two-handed backhand.
“Am I happy with it, no” I have a lot of work to do and to
make a few tweaks here and there to find something I’m comfortable
and to stick with. I’ll do it as long as I need for that to become
perfection. There’s nothing that basket of balls can’t achieve.”
While Sharapova believes that her on court fitness has improved a ton
since she returned, she still hasn’t been able to put her game on
automatic pilot. Whether she can find her fifth gear by the time the US
Open rolls around is debatable, but with a decent draw, she’s sure
to be threat to reach the second week. She’ll be ranked No. 49 on
Monday and is scheduled to play the Canadian Open before New York.
“Its almost like new territory for me,” said Sharapova, who
hasn’t won a title since April 2008. “With every tournament
I feel physically I'm getting better and getting a good sense of the court,
and movement wise, but it’s still a work in progress. I'd like to
forget I was gone for a long time, but you have to put things in perspective."
NOTES CIRSTEA AND ANDRE
Cirstea went to Las Vegas prior to the summer hardcourt swing to work
out with adidas coach Darren Cahill and trainer Gil Reyes. In February,
she got a chance to her with her hero, Steffi Graf. This time, she got
a chance to play with Steffi husband, Andre Agassi.
“It was really good and Steffi came out as well,” said Cirstea.
“Andre was hitting unbelievable and at the beginning I couldn’t
hit two balls in because his balls are so deep and playing so good and
he’s so fit. I think he can he can still play [pros] in this moment.
He told me a few things and I was listening a lot. I started playing because
of Steffi and to see her face to face is a great thing for me. They see
the game so well.”
