Stosur Earns 2011 U.S. Open Women's Singles Title
Samantha Stosur stunned Serena Williams and the tennis world by playing the match of her life on one of the biggest stages in tennis to capture the 2011 U.S. Open Women’s singles title over Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3. It was an impressive performance by the Aussie as
Stosur outhit and outplayed Serena. It was the second time that Stosur has beaten Serena in a big match at a Grand Slam (she also defeated her in the semis at the 2010 French Open). The stats tell a lot of the story as Stosur placed 65% of her first serves in play compared to 52% for Serena. Stosur won 73% of her first service points compared to 62% for Serena. On second serves, Stosur won 63% compared to 33% for Serena indicating that Stosur was winning the rally points. Overall, Stosur had 20 winners and 12 unforced errors while in contrast Serena had 25 unforced errors and 19 winners. Most importantly was that Stosur showed her mental game has matured in this tournament by winning the longest match in tournament history, the longest tie-breaker and then managing to defeat Serena in the finals.
The match may have been marred by an incident in the first game of the second set in which Serena yelled "come on” after hitting a forceful groundstroke, but before the point had ended and Stosur had hit the ball. As a result, the umpire correctly applied the hindrance rule and the point was given to Stosur, which meant game since it had been break point. Similar to the bad scene two years against Kim Clijsters, Serena was “out of line” in many of her comments to the chair umpire over the next couple games and changeovers, but nonetheless, Stosur maintained her composure and dominating form enough to capture the second set and the match.
Stosur, who is the first Australian since Evonne Goolagong Cawley to win a Grand Slam since Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980, received a congrats text right after the match from Evonne (“Twinkletoes, you finally have got what you deserved”) who was watching live in the early morning hours “down under.” Stosur, who was out with Lyme disease a few years ago and is now twenty-seven, is the oldest champion since Martina Navratilova won at the age of thirty in 1987. Given her style of play, she is certainly capable of riding this win to more Grand Slam titles and all eyes will be on her when play begins at her “hometown” Slam, i.e. the 2012 Australian Open.
The match may have been marred by an incident in the first game of the second set in which Serena yelled "come on” after hitting a forceful groundstroke, but before the point had ended and Stosur had hit the ball. As a result, the umpire correctly applied the hindrance rule and the point was given to Stosur, which meant game since it had been break point. Similar to the bad scene two years against Kim Clijsters, Serena was “out of line” in many of her comments to the chair umpire over the next couple games and changeovers, but nonetheless, Stosur maintained her composure and dominating form enough to capture the second set and the match.
Stosur, who is the first Australian since Evonne Goolagong Cawley to win a Grand Slam since Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980, received a congrats text right after the match from Evonne (“Twinkletoes, you finally have got what you deserved”) who was watching live in the early morning hours “down under.” Stosur, who was out with Lyme disease a few years ago and is now twenty-seven, is the oldest champion since Martina Navratilova won at the age of thirty in 1987. Given her style of play, she is certainly capable of riding this win to more Grand Slam titles and all eyes will be on her when play begins at her “hometown” Slam, i.e. the 2012 Australian Open.
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