Stosur, Verdasco fumble in Brisbane
Source: Agencies |
January 5, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TOP seed Samantha Stosur crashed out of the second round of the Brisbane International yesterday, losing 2-6, 4-6 to Jarmila Groth in a battle of Australia's top two women.
Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco was also upset in the men's tournament, losing his first round match 1-6, 7-6 (2), 3-6 to Germany's Benjamin Becker.
Top seed Robin Soderling of Sweden had no such problems, however, reaching the second round comfortably with a 6-2, 6-4 humbling of American qualifier Ryan Harrison.
World No. 6 Stosur is considered her country's best hope of ending a 32-year wait for a home grand slam champion at the January 17-30 Australian Open.
Big-hitting Groth never let last year's French Open finalist settle, however, and raced away with the first set on the back of seven aces.
Stosur fought back in the second to take a 4-2 lead but Slovakia-born Groth won the next four games in a row to claim local bragging rights and a place in the third round.
Verdasco, a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2009, recovered from a listless start to grind out the second set but had few answers in the third as Becker played a faultless service game to seal the match in just over two hours.
"I had a good game plan and it worked well today," 53rd-ranked Becker said after setting up a second round match with Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
"It is always good to get a win under your belt ... and it's not every day you beat a top 10 player."
Eighth ace
Twice French Open finalist Soderling took just 65 minutes to despatch 18-year-old Harrison, facing and saving just one break point and sealing the victory with his eighth ace of the match.
The world No. 5 will be hoping for better luck this year at Melbourne Park, where he has never been past the second round and made a first-round exit last year.
Czech Lucie Safarova reached the women's quarterfinals for the third straight year when she beat second-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in 2-1/2 hours.
Russian No. 5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also won her second round match, beating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 7-5.
In Auckland, New Zealand, Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer began the defense of her Auckland Classic title with a enthralling, hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 first-round victory over former world No. 1 Dinara Safina yesterday.
While the presence of grand slam title winners Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova has helped to effectively sell out the entire tournament, Wickmayer and Safina gave the capacity crowd the best value for money so far with a tough baseline battle filled with aggressive shotmaking.
"It was tough, I thought she played really well," Wickmayer said after the two-hour, 10-minute match. "I thought we both played a good level of tennis so it was nice match to start off the year, a tough one."
Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco was also upset in the men's tournament, losing his first round match 1-6, 7-6 (2), 3-6 to Germany's Benjamin Becker.
Top seed Robin Soderling of Sweden had no such problems, however, reaching the second round comfortably with a 6-2, 6-4 humbling of American qualifier Ryan Harrison.
World No. 6 Stosur is considered her country's best hope of ending a 32-year wait for a home grand slam champion at the January 17-30 Australian Open.
Big-hitting Groth never let last year's French Open finalist settle, however, and raced away with the first set on the back of seven aces.
Stosur fought back in the second to take a 4-2 lead but Slovakia-born Groth won the next four games in a row to claim local bragging rights and a place in the third round.
Verdasco, a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2009, recovered from a listless start to grind out the second set but had few answers in the third as Becker played a faultless service game to seal the match in just over two hours.
"I had a good game plan and it worked well today," 53rd-ranked Becker said after setting up a second round match with Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
"It is always good to get a win under your belt ... and it's not every day you beat a top 10 player."
Eighth ace
Twice French Open finalist Soderling took just 65 minutes to despatch 18-year-old Harrison, facing and saving just one break point and sealing the victory with his eighth ace of the match.
The world No. 5 will be hoping for better luck this year at Melbourne Park, where he has never been past the second round and made a first-round exit last year.
Czech Lucie Safarova reached the women's quarterfinals for the third straight year when she beat second-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in 2-1/2 hours.
Russian No. 5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also won her second round match, beating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 7-5.
In Auckland, New Zealand, Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer began the defense of her Auckland Classic title with a enthralling, hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 first-round victory over former world No. 1 Dinara Safina yesterday.
While the presence of grand slam title winners Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova has helped to effectively sell out the entire tournament, Wickmayer and Safina gave the capacity crowd the best value for money so far with a tough baseline battle filled with aggressive shotmaking.
"It was tough, I thought she played really well," Wickmayer said after the two-hour, 10-minute match. "I thought we both played a good level of tennis so it was nice match to start off the year, a tough one."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
