The Australian's have been waiting a while for a woman to step up - 31 years in fact - and boy did we get that. it undoubtedly the best match of her life Sam Stosur brushed aside huge tournament favourite Serena Williams 6-2 6-3 in and hour and 17 minutes. The last Australian to win a slam was Evonne Goolagong Cawley when she triumphed at Wimbledon.
Having not been past round three at a slam this year and struggling to dispatch of Nadia Petrova, Maria Kirilenko and even shock semi finalist Angelique Kurber in previous rounds, Srotsur was very much the underdog, however it seemed as if Stosur was playing for her 14th slam title not her first. In the first set Samantha took advantage of an off song Serena to break the great champion twice.
In the first game of the second set Serena, who embarrassed the world number in the semifinals, was down a break point and got called for hindrance. Williams hit a blistering forehand and almost simultaneously screamed "Come on" as the ball tip the frame of Stosur's out stretched raquet. Umpire Eva Asderaki awarded the point to Stosur and Serena was not impressed. As she began to rip into the umpire, "Aren't you the one who screwed me over last time? Yeah you are. You have it out for me and that is not cool" Serena responded by breaking back the next game and continued her 'chat' with the umpire "“If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because you’re out of control,” Williams said. “You’re out of control. You’re totally out of control. You’re a hater. You’re unattractive...inside. Who would do such a thing? And I never complain. Wow," and finally "Am I not allowed to express my self? Last time I checked we were in America" On Monday Williams will find out the punishment of her behaviour under her probation.
Nothing can be used to take away from Stosur's huge achievement which saw her over power tennis Goliath. Hopefully with Samantha's success the old saying Success breads success will ring truer than ever.
Returning at 5-3 Stosur powered to a 40-15 lead but Serena, being Serena, showed her fight to some degree pushing deuce, however only prolonging the inevitable as Stosur powered a forehand return of serve past Serena to claim the title.
In the on court post match ceremony Stosur praised Williams for being such a great champion and thanking her for all the amazing things she had done for the sport.
APOLOGIES - Pictures are not loading at this stage but will get them up ASAP.
10 comments:
Congats to Sam on the US Open title, its been a long time coming, eh?
I didn't realize Serena was still on probation; Hopefully they'll expel her from all forthcoming US Open's or at least a couple majors. While her behavior this year along with 2009 doesn't take away the achievements.. It sure does embarrass Serena, the WTA, USA, and the game in general.
cut & paste from notes & netcords
September 12, 2011:
RANKING MOVERS
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) No.5 to No.3 Top 3 debut; was already first Belarusian ever to crack Top 4, now first Belarusian to crack Top 3 after third round finish at US Open
Angelique Kerber (GER) No.92 to No.34 Top 40 debut; soars past previous career-high No.45 after making first Grand Slam semifinal at US Open, falling to Stosur; had never passed third round of any Grand Slam tournament beforehand
Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) No.42 to No.38 Top 40 debut; Romanian No.1 cracks Top 40 for first time despite first round loss at US Open, after several players dip out of Top 40
Simona Halep (ROU) No.53 to No.42 Top 50 debut; world’s best teenager jumps into Top 50 for first time; upset Kvitova in first round of US Open but fell second round
Christina McHale (USA) No.55 to No.45 Top 50 debut; breaks into Top 50 after breakthrough run at US Open, upsetting Bartoli en route to third round, falling to Kirilenko
Sloane Stephens (USA) No.106 to No.89
Top 100 debut; breaks into Top 100 after reaching third round of
US Open, upsetting Peer en route before falling to Ivanovic; is only 18-year-old in Top 100 - all other players are 19 or older Top 10 doubles player Yaroslava Shvedova turns 24 years old on Monday.
WITHDRAWALS
Québec City
Halep, Simona (ROU) Right Achilles injury
Keothavong, Anne (GBR) Foot injury
Mattek-Sands, Bethanie (USA) Right shoulder injury
McHale, Christina (USA) Low back injury
Rodionova, Anastasia (AUS) Low back injury
WITHDRAWALS
Tashkent
Camerin, Maria Elena (ITA) Right shoulder injury
Chakvetadze, Anna (RUS) Dizziness
Dokic, Jelena (AUS) Right shoulder injury
Niculescu, Monica (ROU) Abdominal injury
Suárez Navarro, Carla (ESP) Right elbow injury
Licki still has dizziness? :/
Impressed with McHale she keeps going up in the rankings, slowly but steadily.
I think there are three Romanians in the top 100.
I was hoping King/Yaroslava would win the slam but they fell.
Caps, just to let you know your Julia G. has a good record on indoor hard courts.
I think Serena's punishment will be another slap on the wrist, nothing more.
Thanks, Carlos! Julia def needs some good play...
I finally got around to dropping Petko from my twitter feed. Basically a few scant photos of other women I like on her feed isn't worth sorting through her inane posts any longer.
Read that Serena got fined a whopping $2000.00 for her latest outburst. Never mind she won $900K along with $500K for finishing first in the US open series.
Like I said a slap on the wrist. The WTA doesn't have the gonads to hand over a harsh penalty.
Why is it whenever I see the Bunny I see her with pimples on her lips or around her lips?
Now my rant on the Serena's outburst. It was NOT fair that the point was taken away from Serena. Did any chair umpire take away any points away from the Fist Pumping Imbecile for her "come on" screams? NO! How about Divapova? NO! Anybody else got penalized? NO! So why did every other player get a pass and Serena didn't? The excuse is lame at best. The gonad-less WTA should make a mandatory rule: everyone who yells "come on", fist pumps, should lose that point, no excuses. I hear the Imbecilites grumble. If someone dances they should be disqualify for unsportsmanlike conduct, D. Buffoonitist are gathering pitch forks and torches as we speak. Either you make the rule or let everything go and not call anything on important matches. I don't have a problem on what Serena said, she felt she was being screwed and she was. The only thing i disagree is that it was the same person who screw her over from last time. Rant over. :P
Carlos, my (probably incredibly biased) opinion is that it was an interesting call and that I have never seen it done before and calls from some people for Williams to get band are absolutely crazy, really what was so bad? Calling her a hater? Saying she's unattractive inside? To be honest, due to her being under probation I expected a larger fine.
I am the first to admit, I know nothing about WTA/ITF/ATP rules whatever but here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YmblrB_Ftc in the YEC's in Doha...same umpire same calling different outcome.
And lets be honest, Serena a) would not have intentionality did it during the final, it sometimes just happens. And b) there was no way that Stosur was getting that ball back.
Also Serena was very much gracious in her post match interview and trophy ceremony interview, she played bad, she had issues with her toe against Wozniacki but she didn't make any excuses and acknowledged that Stosur played brilliantly and it wouldn't have made a difference.
If Serena's latest outburst was a stand alone incident.. I wouldn't be so harsh calling for the max penalty, whether its a large fine and/or suspension.
However, she was on probation and therefore her outburst should be seen as flagrant violation of conduct.
That said, she skated and all is well is Serena land.
Captain, thanks for the link. It was more obvious in Doha, Kuznetsova was about to hit the ball when Serena yelled "Come on". Serena should have gotten a warning at the USO final. All the WTA had to do is take away all points that Serena earned at the USO 11 and U.S. Open Series, no fines because multi millionaires can pay anything.
I have to make a correction, what I meant to say I disagree with Serena it was NOT the same person that screw her over in 2009. My keyboard ate the the word "not". :P
Ahh, this should be all about Sam now :-( How are the celebration in the Aussie-land going? Is she going to get some special recognition down under from your tennis federation?
I was expecting a new public holiday! Sadly the Australian media is still quite anti-tennis, so there was one day of a media frenzy but that was about it :( She will most likely win the Newcombe Medal again (for most outstanding Australian tennis feat) that's all I would be aware of.
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