Stosur cruises into third round
Sam Stosur got her Sony Ericsson Open campaign off to the perfect start with a straight set victory over little-known Russian Valeria Savinykh.
Miami, USA, 23 March 2012 | Paul Moore
Sam Stosur knew very little about Valeria Savinykh going into their second round singles clash in Miami, but by the end of it all she had seen enough to be impressed.
“I’d seen her walking around the ground but didn’t know it was who I was going to be playing,” Stosur commented after her 6-4 6-0 win.
“But she’s a good player. She’s very young and she’s got a good game, a good serve for her height and it was a matter of getting out there and seeing what she could do and adjusting it accordingly.”
Savinykh, ranked No.111 in the world, wasn’t supposed to cause Stosur too many problems en route to a third round clash with Chanelle Scheepers.
However, at the start of the match the young Russian showed glimpses of undoubted potential. Dropping to a 2-0 deficit in a matter of minutes, Savinykh began to settle just as Stosur’s game started to get a little scrappy.
A poor service game at 2-1 saw Savinykh break back easily, before the Australian started to find her range again, holding serve with some solid ground strokes.
Stosur settled a little to hold for 3-2 before breaking again, and from that point, she had the match under control.
“Before I knew it it was 2-2 and then I broke so I was always at least one game ahead. Then in the second set settled into the match and pulled away quite well,” she reflected.
“I don’t think there was any dramatic difference in the second from the first, I just maybe tightened up a few errors a bit.”
Stosur faces a tougher test in the third round against world No.42 Scheepers.
“We played in October last year and I had a good win. She’s got better and better and is playing well these days,” Stosur said.
Don’t forget to follow that match on Twitter (@tennisaustralia)