Tennis

Gutsy Stosur stuns Serena to make semis

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-03 09:42

PARIS - Australian Samantha Stosur survived a match point to stun top seed Serena Williams 6-2 6-7 8-6 on Wednesday and reach the French Open semi-finals for the second successive year.

Samantha Stosur of Australia reacts after winning her match against Serena Williams of the U.S. during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris June 2, 2010.??[Photo/Agencies]

Williams was fractionally off target with an attempted forehand winner at 5-4 in the third set and gutsy seventh seed Stosur battled back to set up a clash with fourth seed Jelena Jankovic.

The 26-year-old had outplayed four-times champion Justine Henin in the fourth round and was better than Williams, the 2002 champion, for most of a two hour-24 minute quarter-final as the sun finally returned to Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Leading by a set and 5-3, having taken an astonishing 17 consecutive points from 3-2 in the first set, Stosur failed to finish off her opponent and nearly paid the price.

"I got a little bit nervous and a little bit tight, but overall, I actually felt good," Stosur told reporters after her first win over a current world number one.

"It's not really a pressure. I guess everything is just adrenaline and all the emotions hitting you kind of at once.

"That third set I just kind of hung in there, and I was behind the whole time serving second. I had to wait for another opportunity and then I got one at 6-6 and thankfully I took it."

FIERCE FOREHAND

Williams seemed to have the match in her grasp in the deciding set and blamed herself for throwing it away.

"It was my match and I lost it. That's basically what happened," she told reporters. "She's a good player but I made so many errors and I definitely was nowhere near my best today."

Stosur tried to dominate the match with her fierce early-struck forehand and it worked a treat against a leaden-footed, lacklustre Williams as she broke twice to take the opening set.

From 3-2 30-30 she embarked on a 17-point streak that seemed to have knocked the stuffing out of a mistake-riddled Williams but the American 12-times grand slam champion, who racked up 32 unforced errors in the first two sets, rarely departs without a scrap.

She broke Stosur and levelled the second set at 5-5 before storming through the tiebreak 7-2.

Stosur was forced to hang on in the decider as Williams began to blast away and she received a big let-off when the American's forehand floated long on match point.

All of a sudden the momentum changed and two brilliant points, a forehand pass and a stunning backhand, sealed a break at 6-6 and when she served for the match for a second time the Australian proved up to the task.