Samantha Stosur will make a start to her Australian Open campaign with a first round matchup against Sorana CirsteaYou can watch and bet on Stosur v Cirstea live for free at bet365 > live tennisSamantha Stosur once again enters the Australian Open with hopes of delighting the home fans in Melbourne by winning the title. The 27 year-old appears to have as good a chance this year as she ever has, despite enduring a stuttering start to the 2012 season. She’ll get underway here with a first round meeting with Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
Stosur is currently confident about her game. “I'm probably right at that good stage of my career at the moment where I can still get better, but I've obviously made big gains recently and I think tennis is in a really good spot at the moment,” said Stosur to reporters. “I'd love to be one of those players that can keep really kicking on and maybe become more of a dominant force.”
Stosur has never quite achieved as much in Melbourne as she might have liked, even though the blue plexicushion courts seem almost perfect for her style of tennis. “The surface is good, I'm obviously used to it. I've practised on it for a long time,” stated the Aussie. “The balls just seem to get really, really fluffy and really, really heavy and go slow through the air, so it's hard to get rewarded for some big shots at times.”
“But I guess that's where weather can play a big part. The sunnier it is, the hotter it is and if the balls are going to be faster through the air like at the US Open, hopefully it can all work to my advantage.”
Having won the US Open last season, Stosur has proven that she can perform at the highest level. Whether she can do so under the pressure of being Australia’s biggest hope of a Melbourne slam winner, however, remains to be seen.
