By Blair Henley
There will be a first-time Grand Slam tournament champion at the 2010 French Open.
A calm, collected Sam Stosur followed up her win over Justine Henin by defeating world No. 1 Serena Williams 6-2, 6-7 (2), 8-6. None of this year’s semifinalists, including Stosur’s next opponent, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, have won a major singles title.
Stosur, seeded seventh, dominated throughout the first half of the match, but failed to convert her service game up 6-2, 5-3. That allowed Serena to regain momentum after two sets littered with unforced errors and double faults, but it also provided extra motivation when the 26-year-old Aussie earned a second chance to serve for the match at 7-6 in the third set.
“Obviously I was a little bit nervous,” Stosur said. “I think I was a little bit worse when I first served for it, and I just didn’t want to let that same thing happen again. So I just went for it and tried to play it like any other game.”
Just minutes before, Stosur was one point away from losing the match on her serve, but Serena flubbed the opportunity on a missed forehand. The Australian then took control with her aggressive serve, looking far more confident than her typically unflappable opponent.
Stosur will be making her second French Open semifinal appearance in as many years, but she admitted her results are a bit more satisfying this time around.
“The match against Justine was probably the best win of my career,” she said. “This one today, I don’t know where it stands, but I’m so happy to get to the semis again and hopefully I can go a little bit further.”
Jelena Jankovic, who ended unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova’s unlikely French Open run 7-5, 6-4, will take play Stosur tomorrow. No. 5 Elena Dementieva will play No. 17 Francesca Schiavone in the other semifinal.