Sam cruises, Dasha fights

SAMANTHA Stosur has cast friendship aside to roar into the French Open third round for the 10th year in a row.

Australia’s former finalist and four-time semi-finalist is again through to the last 32 in Paris without dropping a set after beating her doubles partner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) last night.

Stosur was later joined in the third round by fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova, who lost the first set but fought back to beat American Bernarda Pera 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

A winner of the Strasbourg International on Sunday, Pavlyuchenkova had been riding a six-match winning streak on the European clay.

But the 30th seed was unable to cope with Stosur’s forehand power in a tight tussle ultimately decided on the Australian’s racquet.

Six double-faults from Stosur in the second set kept Pavlyuchenkova in the contest, but the Russian frazzled when the former US Open champion turned up the heat.

From 3-5 down in the second set, Stosur turned the screws, forced a tiebreaker and raced through it for the loss of just one point to seal victory with a scorching forehand pass after one hour and 38 minutes.

It was an inspired performance under immense pressure from Stosur.

Defeat for Stosur — a day after fist-pumping her way into the doubles second round with Pavlyuchenkova — would have sent Australia’s only grand slam singles winner in the past 15 years spiralling out of the world top 100. But the 34year-old rose to the occasion.

“The courts, they’re just so good,” Stosur said. “Hitting here, everything feels crisp out of the racquet. It’s just got a different feeling here.

“It’s got a different buzz about it. All the slams do but, for me playing here, definitely it’s somewhere where I’ve probably had most of my best wins of my career, so I always love coming back.”

Stosur next plays world No.3 Garbine Muguruza in a sequel to the pair’s semi-final two years ago.