Stosur out of Madrid

FOR the second year in a row Romanian Simona Halep has knocked Gold Coast tennis star Samantha Stosur out of the Madrid Open.

This time the third seed needed just under two hours to beat Stosur 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and advance to the quarter-finals of the Spanish tournament she won last year.

For Stosur it was a hit and miss performance. When she stepped up into the court and hit deep she invariably made Halep pay.

But in the first and third sets there were too many unforced errors to go with her winners.

The match opened in the worst way possible for the Australian, with Halep breaking her serve and Stosur couldn’t peg that back.