Stosur looking to continue good form at Wimbledon
Rain has kept Samantha Stosur courtside in her Eastbourne campaign but hasn't dampened the Aussie's ambition.
Eastbourne, London, 17 June 2011 | AAP
Rain has kept Samantha Stosur courtside in her Eastbourne campaign but hasn’t dampened the Aussie’s ambition to carry on at Wimbledon with her current hot form on grass.
Steady drizzle kept the courts covered all day Friday at Eastbourne where Stosur was due to meet French player Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals of the Aegon International.
Her match has been rescheduled for Saturday, with the winner backing up for an afternoon competition decider with the victor of a match between Czech Petra Kvitova and Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.
“Obviously we would have preferred to play today and if you win tomorrow, not have to play two matches, but it’s the same for all four players,” Stosur said after the day’s play was cancelled.
The 27-year-old will open her Wimbledon campaign on Monday against world No.262 Melinda Czink of Hungary.
“Nothing is necessarily smooth in a grand slam,” said Stosur when asked of her thoughts about the Wimbledon draw, released on Friday.
“I’ve never got through the first round or second round at Wimbledon very easily in the past so I hope I can this time, but you’ve got to play every match 100 per cent and be ready for any opponent no matter what their ranking and who they are.”
If all goes well for the Queenslander there’s a potential fourth round clash with Maria Sharapova, whom Stosur has not beaten in their eight meetings.
“If that happens it will be really exciting to be in the fourth round,” Stosur said of a possible meeting with the sixth-seeded Russian.
“I haven’t made it to the fourth round before so if that’s the case it will be a good result and definitely a very good test to play Maria at Wimbledon where she has obviously done very well in the past and I’ve never actually beaten her yet, so I would be really looking forward to that match.”
In previous years Stosur’s grasscourt form at Eastbourne has not translated to success at Wimbledon but this year she hopes for a change.
“It’s a new year, and hopefully I’m a better player than all those previous years and hopefully I can turn it around,” she said, adding that she’s “feeling good and feeling pretty confident and really happy with the way I’m playing”.
Closer to London, rain continued to hamper the efforts of three Australians vying to qualify for the main draw of the men’s singles at Wimbledon.
Bernard Tomic’s match against Monaco’s Jean-Rene Lisnard failed to get underway for a second day due to weather, while an all-Australian clash between Chris Guccione and Marinko Matosevic remains incomplete.
The matches have been rescheduled for Saturday.