Stosur gains revenge over Cirstea in Doha

Sam Stosur

The second round matches in Doha saw the exodus of the seeds as a stunning seven seeded players crashed out of the competition.  Sam Stosur was one of the rare few to advance with a hard fought 6-4 7-6 victory over Sorana Cirstea.  Stosur lost her first round match at the Australian Open to the Romanian earlier this year, but she overcame a late wobble to claim an impressive win in a high quality and entertaining encounter.  Stosur failed to served out the match at 6-4 5-4 and then found herself 5-2 down in the second set tiebreak; however Stosur won five points in a row in that tiebreak as Cirstea's form dipped at the crucial stages of both sets. Cirstea can take heart from her recent form, which has been very promising.  She was hitting the ball cleanly and serving extremely well today with 8 aces to her name.  Victoria Azarenka also avoided the cull of seeds with a comprehensive 6-1 6-0 victory over Mona Barthel.  Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli and Svetlana Kuznetsova were the other seeds to progress and they all did so in straight sets.

Shahar Peer

The highest seeded casualty was Caroline Wozniacki who wasted three match points in a 4-6 6-4 7-6 loss to Lucie Safarova.  Wozniacki's game looks to be going backwards especially now that she is being coached by her dad again after Ricardo Sanchez was dismissed after just a few months - a criminal decision if you ask me.  Jelena Jankovic suffered a surprising defeat to Shahar Peer, 7-6 6-2.  Peer looked to have blown the first set as she let slip a 5-2 lead (and 2 set points) to 6-5; however Jankovic was well below her best as she lost the tiebreak and then wilted in the second set. Ana Ivanovic fell in straight sets in a disappointing defeat to Petra Cetkovska, 6-4 6-4 and the reigning Doha champion, Vera Zvonareva retired hurt to Monica Niculescu.  Two exits that I had predicted were Peng Shuai and Francesca Schiavone; Christina McHale beat Peng, 5-7 6-2 6-3 despite wasting a 5-0 lead in the first set and then losing it 7-5! Schiavone fought hard but eventually succumbed to defeat to the in-form Yanina Wickmayer, 7-6 6-4.

Tsvetana Pironkova

The number 16 seed, Julia Goerges also fell on day 3 as she wasted a number of opportunities in a 7-6 7-6 loss to Varvara Lepchenko.   Flavia Pennetta and Paris champion, Angelique Kerber were among more surprises on the third day action in Doha.  Pennetta was humbled by Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4 6-2, meanwhile Kerber appeared to run out of steam as Tsvetana Pironkova took full advantage with a straightforward 6-4 6-1 victory.  It was a disappointing day for this tournament to see so many seeds fall by the wayside.  Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska look to be dead certs in the top half to progress to the semi-finals and Sam Stosur now has a cakewalk of a draw in the bottom half...