Sam Stosur slams through to fourth round of Roland Garros without dropping a set

By Melinda Samson, Special for Tennis Grandstand

Given that 27th seed Nadia Petrova holds a 5-2 winning record over 6th seed Sam Stosur, and both players have reached the semi finals or further at Roland Garros in past years, their third round match had potential to be tough, long and tense.
But that was not to be. They have never played on clay before and Stosur was in control from the start, seeming determined that this wouldn’t be a repeat of their three hour and 16 minute record-breaking match at last year’s US Open.
Stosur broke Petrova’s first and second service games for a fast 4-0 lead. Petrova broke back in the next game but Stosur was able to hold one break and serve out the set at 6-3.
In the second set, Petrova double faulted away her second service game, to give Stosur a break which she held, despite Petrova having three opportunities to get the break back. Stosur then clinched the match on Petrova’s serve, winning the second set 6-3 to impressively take victory in 1 hour and 8 minutes.
Stosur, looking strong and confident, has now improved on last year’s third round exit from Roland Garros, and will play Sloane Stephens in the fourth round.
Stosur is the only remaining Australian player in the singles draw, after Bernard Tomic and Jarmila Gajdosova lost their second round matches in straight sets, Tomic to Giraldo Santiago and Gajdosova to Caroline Wozniacki.
Follow Tennis Grandstand for updates on all the Australian players’ progress throughout the main draw of the French Open.
Melinda Samson is attending Roland Garros and will be writing updates on Australian players through their trek of the tennis world’s second slam. She also manages the website Grand Slam Gal and is attempting to do the fan version of a tennis grand slam in 2012. Follow her on Twitter for further live updates @GrandSlamGal.