Samantha Stosur (born 30 March 1984 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 on WTA Tour in doubles, together with Lisa Raymond from the United States. As of May 18, 2009, Stosur is ranked No. 31 in singles and No. 5 in doubles by the WTA.
Early career
Stosur first played professional tennis in 1999 on the ITF circuit. She debuted on the Women's Tennis Association tour in 2000, losing in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open. In 2001 she won four straight ITF titles. In 2002 she lost in the first round at the Gold Coast event.
In 2003 Stosur won her first WTA singles matches, reaching the third round of the Australian Open. She lost in the third round to No. 7 seed, Daniela Hantuchová (6–4, 6–2). She also qualified for a WTA event in Memphis.
In 2004 Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ai Sugiyama (7–5, 3–6, 6–3). The next week she reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Hobart, then the second round of the Australian Open. She later qualified for WTA events in Acapulco, Indian Wells, Vienna and Birmingham. Stosur competed at the Athens Olympics, where she lost in the first round. She continued to play WTA qualifying events, qualifying for the Japan Open and Bali in the autumn of 2004. At the end of the 2004 season, Stosur reached the doubles final in Quebéc City, partnered with Els Callens from Belgium.
2005
In 2005 Stosur reached her first WTA tour final at her home event in Gold Coast, losing to Patty Schnyder. She was runner-up at the Sydney event, defeating by walkover the world's No 1 ranked player Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal and Elena Dementieva in the semifinal before losing to fellow Australian Alicia Molik (6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5), and won her first doubles title partnering Australian Bryanne Stewart at the same tournament. Stosur lost to World no. 2 Amélie Mauresmo (6–2, 6–3) in the first round of the Australian Open, but won the mixed doubles title with Scott Draper over Liezel Huber and Kevin Ullyett.
In July she teamed up with American Lisa Raymond, winning seven WTA doubles titles until the end of the year, including the U.S. Open, the Kremlin Cup and the WTA Tour Championships. Stosur finished the year ranked #46 in singles and #2 in doubles.
2006
In 2006 Stosur represented Australia alongside Todd Reid at the Hopman Cup, winning all of her singles matches. She then lost in the first round at Sydney, in three sets, to Czech Nicole Vaidišová (6-4, 4-6, 6-1).
At the Australian Open, Stosur made it to the fourth round in singles, falling to Martina Hingis (6-1, 7-6(8)). She and Lisa Raymond also made it to the Women's Doubles final, being defeated by Chinese duo Yan Zi and Zheng Jie (2-6, 7-6(7), 6-3).
In February, Stosur reached the quarterfinals at the Tier I event in Tokyo, beating no. 6 seed Daniela Hantuchová 7-6(5), 6-2 before falling to no. 1 seed Maria Sharapova (6-1, 6-4). In doubles, after losing at the Australian Open, Stosur and Raymond won 18 straight matches, winning titles in Tokyo, Memphis, Indian Wells and Miami. They also won in Charleston, at the French Open and the WTA Tour Championships.
On 28 August, Stosur achieved a career-high ranking of number 30, after reaching the semifinals at New Haven, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport in two tiebreakers. She finished off the year winning the doubles title at the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, ranked #1 in doubles and a career-high #29 in singles.
2007
Stosur and Lisa Raymond successfully defended their doubles titles in Tokyo, Indian Wells and Miami. The pair also won the German Open in Berlin. In singles, Stosur reached three quarterfinals, at Gold Coast, Tokyo and Memphis. In Rome, she defeated #1 seed Amélie Mauresmo in the second round, saving 2 match points, before losing to Patty Schnyder in the following round.
After the French Open, Stosur started showing symptoms of what would only after months be diagnosed as Lyme disease, an infection transmitted by the bite of ticks. By then her form had slumped. She lost in the second round at Wimbledon, withdrew from many tournaments on the US hardcourt circuit and lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, where she was seeded 29th, to the then ranked #96 Alizé Cornet of France. Stosur did not play any more tournaments in 2007.
2008
Stosur returned playing two ITF tournaments before the 2008 Rome Masters, in May, where she was defeated in the second round by Venus Williams (6-4, 6-1). The tournament also saw the return of the doubles team of Stosur and Lisa Raymond with a second round loss. Less than a month later they were defeated in the third round of the 2008 French Open, where Stosur reached the second round of singles losing to Petra Kvitová (6-2, 6-1).
Stosur showed great promise at Wimbledon; while only making the second round in Singles, losing to Nicole Vaidišová (6-2, 0-6, 6-4), she made the finals of both the Ladies and Mixed Doubles. She and Lisa Raymond lost the final to Venus and Serena Williams (6-2, 6-2). The Williams sisters had just previously played against each other in the final of the Ladies Singles. With mixed doubles partner Bob Bryan, she overcame Mike Bryan and Katarina Srebotnik (7-5, 6-4) to win the title.
At the Beijing Olympics, Stosur was defeated in the second round of the singles tournament by no. 4 seed Serena Williams. In the doubles, Stosur (formerly ranked no. 1) partnered Rennae Stubbs, ranked no. 5 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Doubles Rankings at the time; however, the pair were unseeded as the ITF determined the seedings for the doubles competition based on both singles and doubles rankings standings. The pair lost in the second round to the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (4-6, 6-4, 6-4), who were ranked no. 2 in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships
At the US Open, Stosur lost in the first round of singles to seventh seed Venus Williams (6-2, 6-3). She and Mahesh Bhupathi were eliminated in the second round of the mixed doubles competition by Rennae Stubbs and Robert Lindstedt (2-6, 6-3, 12-10). Raymond and Stosur were runners-up at the women's doubles event, losing to the top ranked team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber (6-3, 7-6(6)).
By the end of the year Stosur was ranked #52 on the WTA singles rankings, 110 spots above her ranking in June. In spite of missing the first four and a half months of the tour, Raymond and Stosur closed off the season as the seventh best team at the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships, with Stosur ranked no. 14 in doubles, 156 positions higher than she was when she returned playing on the ITF circuit.
2009
Stosur (left) with doubles partner Rennae Stubbs at 2009 Australian OpenAfter upsetting 9th seed Ai Sugiyama, Stosur fell to Lucie Safarova in the second round of the Brisbane International. At the Medibank International, no. 1 seed Serena Williams was Stosur's first round opponent. After losing the first set and winning the second in the tiebreaker, Stosur was up 5-4 and served for the match in the third. With a 40-0 lead, she committed two double faults and missed another two match points before having her serve broken and subsequently losing the match (6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5). Seeded 4th, the pair of Stosur and Rennae Stubbs lost to Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-wei in the first round of the tournament.
Stosur won her opening two singles matches of the Australian Open, against Klára Zakopalová of the Czech Republic (7-6(5), 7-6(0)), and Sabine Lisicki of Germany (6-3, 6-4). She then fell to world no. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia (7-6(6), 6-4). She also won her first doubles match partnering Rennae Stubbs against countrywoman Jarmila Gajdosova and Estonian Kaia Kanepi (6-1, 6-4). They then won their second round match against Agnieszka and Urszula Radwańska of Poland (6-1, 6-4). In the third round Stubbs and Stosur faced Venus and Serena Williams of the United States, and lost 6-4, 6-2.
At the Fed Cup Asia/Oceanic Zone competition, which took place in Perth, Stosur won all of her singles matches played during the Group I round-robin ties against Ye-Ra Lee of South Korea, Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and Chuang Chia-jung of Chinese Taipei, besides pairing with Rennae Stubbs to defeat Chuang and Chan Chin-Wei. She then sealed Australia's victory against New Zealand in the promotional play-off beating Marina Erakovic. The Australian team, which also included Casey Dellacqua and Jelena Dokic, advanced to the World Group II play-offs, to be played in April, winning all of its twelve rubbers.
At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Stosur was defeated in the second round by thirteenth seed Zheng Jie (3-6, 7-5, 7-5). Together with Rennae Stubbs, she was ousted in the semifinals of the doubles competition by the world no.1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber (6-4, 6-4).
In Indian Wells, Stosur was eliminated in the second round by no.7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska (3-6, 6-3, 7-5). Seeded 4th, Stosur and Stubbs lost to Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka in the second round in doubles (6-2, 3-6, 10-7)
At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Stosur won her opening round match against Swede Sofia Arvidsson (6-1, 2-0 Ret'd), then defeated Austrian 27th seed Sybille Bammer in the second round (6-1, 6-1). In the third round Stosur defeated 2nd seed Dinara Safina, winning 9 of the first 10 games to lead 6-1, 3-0 before the Russian attempted a comeback; in the end, Stosur prevailed (6-1, 6-4). She then defeated former world no.1 and 20th seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals, where she faced 11th seed Victoria Azarenka and lost (6-1, 6-0). She reached the same round in doubles, losing to Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Patty Schnyder (6-7(5), 6-2, 10-8). However, at the end of the tournament Stosur's singles ranking rose from 43 to 31.
At the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach Stosur was eliminated in the first round by no.2 seed and eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki (6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1). She then played for the Australian Fed Cup team in Mildura, Australia against Switzerland in their World Group II playoff on 25-26 April. Stosur won the opening rubber of the tie in straight sets then sealed the victory for Australia in the third rubber with a tight 3-set victory, improving her 2009 Fed Cup singles record to 6-0. With this result the Australian team advances to the World Group II in 2010.
On to the clay season, Stosur was eliminated in the first round of the Rome Masters by qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, and was also defeated on her first match in doubles. She then competed at the Madrid Masters where she upset no.10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round, but fell to Anna Chakvetadze in the second round (1-6, 6-2, 7-6(4)). Stosur and Stubbs made it to the semifinals but were defeated by world no.1's Cara Black and Liezel Huber (7-5, 7-6(1)).
At the 2009 French Open, Stosur defeated Francesca Schiavone (6-4, 6-2) in the first round and Yanina Wickmayer (6-3, 4-6, 6-4) in the second round. Stosur then beat fourth seed Elena Dementieva in the third round (6-3 4-6 6-1), and defeated Virginie Razzano of France (6-1, 6-2) for a place in the quarterfinals. Stosur defeated Sorana Cirstea (6-1, 6-3) and has advanced to the Semi-Final. She will now face no. 7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the final. Kuznetsova won the first set 6-4, however, Stosur fought back from 2-5 to win the second set 7-6.
[edit] Playing style
An accomplished doubles player, Stosur has developed a serve-and-volley style of play. Her right-handed forehand groundstrokes, hit with heavy spin, are considered her best, as evidenced by her often choosing to hit inside-out forehands; still, Stosur plays the ad court in doubles. She is also noted for her athleticism.
Stosur's first serve, however erratic, reaches more than 112 mph (180 km/h) on regular basis; at the 2008 Hansol Korea Open final she recorded an ace at 122 mph (197 km/h), which she believes to be her fastest service to date. Nonetheless, it is her second, a high bouncing kick serve, that is usually highly rated by media and players alike.
Her favorite surface is the hard court.
Equipment, apparel and endorsements
As of 2009, Stosur's clothing sponsor is Lacoste. Her racquet is Babolat's Pure Storm model, and she endorses Oakley eyewear.
Grand Slam women's doubles finals (5)
