Australians Sam Stosur and Sam Groth have bowed out of the Sydney International after tough Tuesday losses.
Stosur’s rollercoaster ride of a career since winning the 2011 US Open looks to set to remain lodged somewhere between hot and cold after being sent packing from Sydney in the second round by Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
Following a win over Lucie Safarova on Monday, Stosur fell 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 in disappointing fashion, failing to grab an opportunity to face defending champion Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals.
Stosur jumped out to a 2-1 first set lead and later fought back from a break down before crumbling in the tiebreak. Zahlavova Strycova’s momentum carried through to the second set as the 28-year-old, world No.25 took a 3-0 lead before the inaccurate home favourite hit herself out of the match.
“I was playing, following the tactic what I got from my coach, and I’m happy, very happy with the performance I did today,” Zahlavova Strycova said.
“I had to focus on my game, as usual. I was thinking to go maybe more to the net and playing there and playing aggressive against her, because she’s very powerful player. When she push you back off the court, then you really don’t have really a chance. You have to step in, and that’s what I did, especially in the second set. That was working very well.”
Groth fell to Gilles Muller 6-3 3-6 6-7 (6) after making the quarterfinals of last week’s Brisbane International.
The world No.81 went up a set on the back of 145km/h service speeds, but failed to clinch the third set tiebreaker in a thrilling match climax.
Photo: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images.
