Stosur adjusts sights after conquering first-week jitters
LAST year’s US Open champion Samantha Stosur has achieved her first task at the French Open of making it into the second week and has now set her sights on going all the way.
The Australian sixth seed, who lost in the first round of January’s Australian Open, plays America’s rising star Sloane Stephens tonight for a quarterfinal place.
After stumbling so early in Melbourne, Stosur is relieved to have got into the second week in Paris.
‘‘It’s a great feeling,’’ said Stosur, who beat Nadi Petrova in the third round. ‘‘It’s a place that I wanted to try to get to and I’m pleased with the three matches I’ve played.
‘‘[Against Petrova] I was solid and it was a good match, so hopefully it has set me up for the next one and we’ll see where things go.
‘‘I’m very happy with the way things have gone. There are always things you want to improve but [against Petrova] I knew what I wanted to do, I stuck to the plan and executed it very well.’’
Stephens, along with Christina McHale, has been labelled as the next generation of American players to rule the women’s game, taking over from the Williams sisters. It is only her second year playing the Grand Slams but she says she’s improving as a player.
‘‘I’ve done a lot better in staying calm throughout a match and that helps me when I get to the end of a match, where I think I’ve got to do it now or never,’’ Stephens said.
‘‘I have definitely worked at staying calm. My grandparents gave me a necklace and on it says ‘in calmness and confidence’ and every time I think ‘oh my God, what am I doing?’ I think of that and it helps me.’’
Meanwhile, Svetlana Kuznetsova could be one of the dark horses. The Russian, who won at Paris in 2009, has struggled to recapture that form. But after knocking out world No 3 Agnieszka Radwanska she believes she’s getting back to her best.