Serena Williams vs. Samantha Stosur in Cincinnati Open

Comeback contender Serena Williams of USA will take on Australian Samantha Stosur in her second-round encounter of the 2011 Cincinnati Open. Former World No. 1 Serena looked in fabulous touch when she dispatched Stosur two days back in Rogers Cup final. The Australian will be looking forward to avenge this recent loss, but at the same time she has a lot to think about against rampaging Serena, who has been improving remarkably since making a comeback from a career threatening injury. When last year Serena Williams won her thirteenth Major at the Wimbledon, it looked that the then World No. 1 was going to sweep the next two Majors of the year, but as the destiny had it – Williams met with an injury, which was followed up by many bad news, concerning her health. And, at times we felt that we might not see that old Serena on court again, but champions are not like common folks and they can come back from the verge of oblivion. Since making her comeback Serena has been improving on a daily basis and now looking all set to reclaim her top place. Serena will take on Australian Samantha Stosur in the second-round of the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday.

Currently ranked as World No. 31 Serena Williams is most certainly a 'woman on a mission', a mission to re-establish herself as the world's best female tennis player and in doing so, she has taken a huge step forward by winning the Rogers Cup title on last Sunday. This is her second-title of the season after Stanford, where she won after returning to tennis from the 49 week injury hiatus. Serena beat Czech player Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in her Cincinnati first round clash on Tuesday as she has been chasing her third title from five events since returning to the tour. The American has an impressive 15-2 win-loss record this year.

On the other hand, Australian 10th seed Stosur continued her strong US Open tournament build up on Tuesday as she dispatched qualifier Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-1 scoreline. Stosur has already made it to two WTA finals this year and has a good 29-17 win-loss record this year. The Australian was evicted from the Top 10 for a week or so in the beginning of this month, but she rebounded nicely after showing some consistency on tour.

In head-to-head Serena leads with a 4-2 against Stosur. They met just 2 days ago in the final of the WTA Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto, where Serena triumphed in straight sets with a 6-4, 6-2 scoreline in just 77 minutes.

Serena is crushing favourite in this battle, but the Australian can stop her only if she can keep a check on her recurring unforced errors.