Australian Samantha Stosur decisively defeated unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-2 and advanced to her first final this season. The 19-year-old Cirstea, ranked 28th in the world, had upset Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska en route to the semifinals.
No.13 seed Stosur has played four singles finals on the WTA Tour, and has won 22 doubles titles, but singles titles are still lacking in her résumé and she will be looking for her first one this weekend at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife.
Tenth-seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy edged an unseeded Russian Maria Sharapova 6-2 4-6 6-3. Sharapova, still trying to find the form she lost due to the long shoulder-injury layoff, hit 61 unforced errors, which included 16 double faults.
The 61st-ranked Russian said she had made good accomplishments, but there was a lot of room for progress as well, which takes time.
Stosur was a semifinalist last week in Stanford, while Pennetta, last year’s runner-up in Los Angeles, is on a 10-match winning streak, having come to LA after winning the trophy in Palermo.
Stosur and Pennetta will play each other for the first time. (photos via Ralf Reinecke and chascow)
marija i must say i am loving these past few posts. i cant wait for the final! i think i’ll be at school (wagging french) so i’ll go online on my phone and watch the live scores! It sucks causes its now 10 pm 9/8/09 so i was waiting all day wondering when it would start – i realised american is very very very far behind aus!
go sammy!
what’s it about the last few posts that you’re loving? i would say it’s your fellow aussie sam. 🙂
haha that! Its just so excited to read about an Aussie. I know how you feel when serbs win! (No offence – but its been a while – haha. And the detail – i love reading all about it. This is by far the best tennis site of all. All the others take heaps long to load, and are hard to read.
Yeah, it’s been a while, I know. 😛
Wow, I’m glad you enjoy my site the most! 😀 Thanks for sharing it too!
Should be a very competitive match. Both players never looked like they were going to be great players, but have become late bloomers.
61 unforced errors and 16 double faults, are you kidding me! This is beyond pathetic. But Maria was exhausted, she didn’t want to play anymore. She said it herself she was surprised it went into a third set. Her gas ran out later in the tournament again, I hope Yuri can help her. Maybe it’s because of his appearance that made her come this far as well; not to forget Charlie as well.
I’m sure she’ll do well, she’ll get a week to rest and she really really needs a rest right now. Good luck in Toronto, Maria, I love you! 😀
Yup, I was watching the Maria match. It was hilarious! She would hit an amazing winner then compensate with like 5 unforced errors. It was sad 🙁 I really wanted her to win! She’ll come back with a fury next week. I really hope Jankovic wins some matches. She is playing terribly. It is sad :'( Well, Marija I love your site. 😀
Hey, I’m very grateful for that, Macho Nacho. 🙂
It was a pity that Maria lost 🙁 but she’s doing so well. She’s even back in the top 50! BTW Marija your site is my favourite 🙂
Bróna, thank you so much! 🙂