Sam Stosur has ended the hopes of a female Spanish winner at the Madrid Open by defeating Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The former US Open champion looked on her way to causing an upset at the start of the match when she stormed to a 3-0 lead. The early momentum soon disappeared after to a series of outstanding backhand winners from the Suarez Navarro allowed her to claim six consecutive games, sending the home crowd wild.
Despite squandering the lead and losing the opening set, Stosur managed to regain control of the match against a below-bar Suarez Navarro. The eighth seed has been troubled by illness throughout the tournament and candidly admitted that she would of pulled out of the event, if it wasn’t in her home country. The biggest indication of the drop of her form was shown with her first service winning rate, falling from 76% in the first set to below 45% if the next two.
Regardless of her opponents illness and despondency on the court, Stosur still had to contend with the home crowd as well as her own nerves in the match. 34 errors came of the Australian’s racket, which she compensated for with 39 winners. The world No.23 also faced 11 break points in the match, saving seven of them.
After succumbing in three sets to Stosur, an emotional Suarez Navarro spoke to Ubitennis.net about about her Madrid exit. Throughout this week she has struggled with flu like symptoms consisting of a cold, headache and other issues.
“I don’t feel good when I was on the court. I tried to win, tried to play, but I don’t feel good,” the world No.11 said.
“Sam played a really good match, so she deserved to win today.”
Prior to her match against Stosur, the Spaniard spent all day in her room as she hoped to recover in time. Unfortunately the plan didn’t go as she would have liked. Despite her Madrid disappointment, Suarez Navarro will not be taking things easy. Tomorrow she will start preparations for next week’s Rome Open.
“I go to Rome, maybe tomorrow, just to practice there a few days before the tournament,” she said.
The roller coaster victory over the ailing Spaniard has taken Stosur to her first WTA Premier quarterfinal since the 2014 Beijing Open. She will play in the last eight in Madrid for the third time in her career and the first since 2012.
The loss of Suarez Navarro means that there is now only one seeded player remaining in the draw. Sixth seed Simona Halep avoided the fate of her fellow players by defeating Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-3.