Samantha Stosur Australian Tennis

Samantha Stosur has just won the Queensland Sportsperson of the Year Award for 2011. This position was hotly contested amongst several high profile Queensland Sports stars such as Sally Pearson who fought off competition to win the 100 metre hurdles at the World Championship Athletic Championships. There is no doubt that this year has been a Stellar year for Stusur having won the US Open Tennis Championship in New York in that oh so dramatic final against Venus Williams. Williams was firm favourite to take out the title with the support of the traditionally parochial home town crowd in New Youk. Stosur remained composed as Williams in one incident Williams completely berated the Umpire. Stosur could have become flustered but remained focused as at that stage she was completely dominating the match.

In the absence of any of French player at the Rolland Garros's 2010 women's singles final, the French nation has embraced Australian tennis ace Samantha Stosur as one of their own.

Since Samantha defeated four-time champion Justine Henin and World No. 1 Serena Williams, France has been abuzz with the news of the young Australian's ascent. Tonight is her best chance ever of winning a Grand Slam Tournament. It has been a long time between drink for Australian Tennis in fact It has been thirty years since an Aussie Female made it to the French Open and 1973 when Margaret Court won the event won the Grand slam event.

Samantha Stosur is from the Gold Coast Queensland which is where I lived for 15 years and only around 80 kilometres from here !

Stosur's Early career

Samantha 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 Hanchuova. She also qualified for aWTA event in Memphis.

In 2004 Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ali Sugiyama. 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 Quebec City, partnered with Els Callens from Belgium.

2010

After 2009, Stosur decided to focus on singles and take part in doubles less. Her partnership with Renae Stubbs ended and she partnered with Nadia Petrova; she will take part in only the major tournaments as a tactic to play in fewer doubles tournaments in hopes to reach the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, a similar strategy taken by Serena and Venus Williams.

Alongside Lyetton Hewitt, Stosur represented Australia at the 2010 Hopman Cup. Australia were the top seeds. Their first tie was against Romania, where Stosur lost unexpectedly to Sorana Cirstea in a three-setter, and then lost in the mixed doubles 7–5 6–1. The next tie was against the USA, where Stosur beat Melanie Oudin in straight sets, 6–2 6–4. Hewitt also won his singles match against John Isner sealing the tie. In the mixed doubles, Hewitt-Stosur lost 2–6 6–1 10–5. To advance to the final, Australia needed to win their tie against Spain 3–0. This result was, however, reversed, Australia losing to Spain 3–0. Stosur's last preparation tournament prior to the Australian Open was the Medibank International. Stosur lost to Flavia Pennatta 6–3 6–1 in the first round.

Stosur was guaranteed a seeding of 13 for the 2010 Australian Open. She beat Han Xuinyin in the first round, 6–1 3–6 6–2, Kristina Barrios in the second, 7–5 6–3 and Alberta Briani in the third round 6–4 6–1. Stosur was pitched against the World #1 and defending champion

In 2011 Samantha Stosur became an unlikely winner of the US Open. Beating Serena Williams she became the first Australian woman to win a grand slam event since Evonne Goolagon Cawley in 1980