Sam shows ‘em after US Open insult

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FORMER US Open champion Sam Stosur will storm into the third round tomorrow despite the tennis tournament forgetting how to spell her name.

Gold Coaster Stosur – the last woman to win the tournament before Serena Williams – received an almighty snub by the Grand Slam this week, being forced to catch a bus to the grounds and shunted off her practice session.

The official scoreboard in her first-round match also bizarrely spelled her name “Samantha Stodosova”.

The treatment – which Stosur said wasn’t good enough – didn’t stop her from blasting her secondround opponent Russian Evgeniya Rodina in just 51 minutes yesterday, 6-1, 6-1.

It’s her best result at the court she once dominated since 2012. Tomorrow, Stosur will go head to head with Italian 16th seed Sara Errani.

The former champion had to catch a bus from Manhattan to Flushing Meadows on Wednesday because tournament organisers told her all the cars were in use by other players.

The same day, she had a 45minute practice session booked on court, but was shunted between three different courts after world No.1 Serena Williams booted her off.

“When you are still in the tournament you try and book a car and they say you can’t have one before 10am because you don’t have a match.

“I don’t think it’s good enough,” she said.

When asked if she thought Williams would get a car, she replied: “yeah”.

“She kicked me off my practice court yesterday too. A few issues, but it’s all right,” she said.

Stosur said she wasn’t speaking as a former champion, but was speaking for all players.

“It’s a Grand Slam. You’ve got to be able to provide transport to players when they need it,” she said.

Tournament spokesman Chris Widmaier said the US Open had “nothing but the highest regard for Samantha Stosur.”

Mr Widmaier said players with matches took priority for transport.

He said he did not know how Stosur’s name was spelled incorrectly or why she was unable to keep a practice court for 45 minutes.