Stosur the standout in final bow as big names deliver goods

The big names prevailed at the Australian Open yesterday but Australian veteran Sam Stosur stole the show in her final tournament.

The 37-year-old, who defeated Serena Williams to win the US Open more than a decade ago, announced ahead of the event that this will be her final appearance as a singles player.

Now ranked 487, Stosur had not won a singles match since the first round here last year, but she delighted her home fans by coming from a set down to defeat Robin Anderson 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-3.

“That’s kind of been the focus all along since I knew this was going to be my last event, was to play how I want to play, go out and enjoy it, pretty much do what I did today,” said Stosur.

She struggled with the pressure at Melbourne Park, even in her prime, and has never made it past the fourth round.

“I couldn’t really ask for much more. It was just great to get out there and play that sort of tennis in that sort of match out there with that crowd.”

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka came into the tournament winless this season and in the middle of a serving crisis.

She hit 12 doubles faults against Australian Storm Sanders but recovered from a set and 3-1 down to win 5-7 6-3 6-2.

Sabalenka credited her victory to former Wimbledon champion

Mark Philippoussis, who she revealed reached out to her and offered some serving tips.

The Belarusian said: “He was in Adelaide and after my second match he just wrote me, like, ‘Well, girl, just stop thinking a lot on your serve. If you have some time today...we can go out on the court, I can help you.’

“And I think at 9pm or 8pm we went on court and we served a lot and he gave me some tips about what should I focus on during the game when I’m struggling with my serve.

“I’m really thankful to him for this help because that’s what helped me today in the match to just survive there.”

Third seed Garbine Muguruza was a 6-3 6-4 winner over young Frenchwoman Clara Burel while seventh seed Iga Swiatek won 11 games in a row to beat Harriet Dart 6-3 6-0 and in-form sixth seed Anett Kontaveit saw off Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3.

Simona Halep is also through after a 6-4 6-3 win over Magdalena Frech but another former finalist, 20th seed Petra Kvitova, continued her poor form, going down 6-2 6-2 to Sorana Cirstea, while former champion Angelique Kerber was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Kaia Kanepi.

Australian wild card Maddison Inglis pulled off arguably the result of the day, beating US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-2.

Sam Stosur will stop appearing as a singles player.