Stosur stuns Serena to reach French Open semis

PARIS: Samantha Stosur of Australia wrecked the Grand Slam hopes of Serena Williams on Wednesday, outplaying the world number one and top seed 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 8-6 in a thrilling French Open quarter-final.

It was an accomplished performance from the 26-year-old Gold Coast resident who firstly contained the power-hitting of the American and then left her gasping with an array of savvy stroke-making.

She could have finished it in straight sets, getting to within two points of the match on serve at 5-3 in the second but allowed Williams back into the match before stunning her in the decider. The win put Stosur into the Roland Garros semi-finals for the second straight year, equalling her best ever performance in a Grand Slam tournament and confirmed that she now belongs among the elite in the women’s game. As for Williams, it was the end of her dream of becoming the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to achieve the calendar year Grand Slam of Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open titles.

“My first chance came at 5-3 and I let that slip and I didn’t want that to happen again,” said Stosur, who had defeated four-time champion Justine Henin in the previous round. “It’s in situations like these that you really get tested and see that all the hard work pays off.”

Williams, who won her 12th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, had not looked at her best in reaching the last eight but with the sun once again gracing the Philippe Chatrier centre-court she was favoured to overpower the Australian seventh seed.

Jelena’s air-shot puts her in semis

Jelena Jankovic profited from the kind of mistake more befitting a crumbling park court than a grand slam quarter-final stage on Wednesday as she eventually wore down Yaroslava Shvedova at the French Open.

The Serbian fourth seed was struggling to put away unseeded Shvedova of Kazakhstan but chuckled with relief when her tall opponent lined up an easy smash, set herself, but swished at thin air instead of connecting with a ball that was begging to be walloped for a winner.

It was no laughing matter for the 22-year-old Shvedova as it allowed Jankovic to level the set at 4-4 before rolling through the following two games to win 7-5 6-4 and reach her third semi-final at Roland Garros.

Federer laments weather

Shell-shocked Roger Federer’s mood was as dark as the Paris gloom on Tuesday as his dreams of a second French Open success were crushed by Swedish sledgehammer Robin Soderling. One year on from condemning four-time champion Rafael Nadal to a first career defeat at Roland Garros, Soderling was back to his gate-crashing best, sending 14 aces and 19 forehand winners flashing past the world number one.  “These were serious, tough conditions,” explained Federer, who had defeated the Swede 12 times in 12 meetings before Tuesday’s fateful clash. “If you serve 225kmh, 230, you can still hit through the court on the serve.”

His lack of serving strength also played a part in his stunning 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 quarter-final loss which brought to an end his record, six-year run of 23 successive Grand Slam semi-finals appearances.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2010.