WTA US Open 2011 Preview: Samantha Stosur vs. Nadia Petrova

Australian World No. 10 Samantha Stosur will take on Russian giant-killer Nadia Petrova for a place in the fourth-round of the 2011 US Open on Friday. Brace yourself for an enthralling battle between these two seasoned campaigners.

After finishing up as a runner-up at the 2010 French Open, Australian Samantha Stosur instantly soared the popularity charts in her home-country and everyone expected her to continue in the same manner. But, the Australian could not maintain her form and this year she struggled badly post French Open, but bounced back brilliantly in the US Open Series and rekindled the hopes of claiming her maiden Grand Slam.

Well, it’s time to make amendments for the past mistakes and the Australian is looking more resilient and focussed to make her mark in the ongoing 2011 US Open. Stosur eased past Coco Vandeweghe in her second-round encounter to set up this clash with Russian giant killer Nadia Petrova, who subdued Polona Hercog in her second-round match.

Stosur started off very well in the new season by reaching the second-round at Brisbane and Sydney and then finished in the third-round at Australian Open, vowing out to Kvitova. The Australian continued with her fine form, as she reached the quarterfinal at Dubai, third-round at Indian Wells and Charleston. Afterwards, she finished as a semi-finalist at Stuttgart and runner-up at Rome. Her progress was halted in the third-round at Roland Garros by Gisela Dulko. Australian disappointed her fans by losing in the Wimbledon opener, but did relatively well in the US Open Series, as she finished as a runner-up at Toronto and quarterfinalist at Cincinnati. Stosur has a satisfactory 31-18 win-loss record this year, but the big reason to worry is that she has lost a few close encounters to low-ranked players.

Stosur’s opponent Nadia Petrova is currently ranked as World No. 30 and she has a 21-17 win-loss record this year, with a WTA title to her name. Earlier this year, she reached the third-round at Aussie Open, 4th round at Indian Wells and again third-round at Charleston. Petrova was looking in fine touch at that time, but she fell in the Roland Garros opener. In the US Open Series, the Russian did very well, as she won her 10th WTA title at College Park and also reached the quarterfinal at Cincinnati.

Though there is a considerable gap between the rankings of Stosur and Petrova, the Russian has done very well against the Australian in their past meetings. Well, Petrova leads the head-to-head with a 4-1 against Stosur. Last time they met at Eastbourne before Wimbledon this year, where Stosur managed to win her maiden match against the Russian in straight sets. Well, Petrova is always considered as a tough opponent on hard-court. Hence, it would be a big task for Stosur to stop her.