Stosur’s return from injury picking up steam
GOLD Coast ace Samantha Stosur has shown she is far from a spent force, marching into the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Tennis Open after her return from injury.
Stosur recovered from a set down to eliminate world No.18 Agnieszka Radwanska, winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.
“I thought I was playing pretty well, and genuinely enjoying playing,” Stosur said.
“I felt like as the match went on I kept getting better and better.”
But the 33-year-old had to do it the hard way, dropping the first set as she really struggled to contain the Pole’s powerful serve.
Stosur came out battling at the start of the second set but Radwanska continued to dominate, breaking in the third game to extend her lead.
However, the Aussie broke straight back and then held her serve to edge in front.
And she built on that momentum in style, breaking Radwanska for a second time to force a decider.
Brimming with confidence Stosur broke the wilting Pole early in the third set, and proceeded to race to a 5-0 lead.
Radwanska double-faulted to hand Stosur two match points but could save only one of them as she wrapped up her place in the last eight.
Stosur was due to meet the winner of Luksika Kumkhum and China’s Qiang Wang.
It is an incredible return to form for Stosur who was forced to miss Wimbledon and the US Open due to stress fractures in her right hand.
Australian No.1 Daria Gavrilova also advanced, beating America’s Shelby Rogers 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. She will face former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki or fellow Australian Liz Cabrera in the quarter-finals.
Venus Williams lost five of her last six serves to crash out Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
Osaka, 19, ranked 64th in the world, came through with the upset in just under 90 minutes to knock the 37-year-old out of the competition.