Lalika blog

Stosur dumped out of home grand slam by Kvitova

MELBOURNE, Jan 22 – Petra Kvitova shattered Australia's hopes of a first women's champion in their home event since 1978 by knocking out fifth seed Sam Stosur 7-6 6-3 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday.

The ice-cool 20-year-old Czech, who warmed up for the year's first grand slam by winning the Brisbane title, silenced the fiercely parochial crowd at Rod Laver Arena by guiding a forehand volley down the line to seal victory in 95 minutes.

"Don't really know how I lost it, to be honest," French Open runner-up Stosur, who blew a 5-3 lead in the opening set tiebreak, told reporters.

"Felt like I started playing a bit better and was probably on top of her and then all of a sudden it was gone and I was a set down.

"I thought she played extremely well pretty much the whole way through. I think it was a matter of a point here and a point there and she got the ones that really mattered."

Kvitova, the 28th seed, reeled off four consecutive points in the tiebreak, snatching the set with a forehand winner from the baseline.

Stosur's confidence drained when she dropped serve to trail 4-2 in the second set and she gifted her opponent three match points when she slapped a forehand wide at 5-3.

"I like this court and this crowd. Unfortunately, it was against me," Kvitova, a surprise Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, told reporters. "But still it was nice."

She will play Italy's Flavia Pennetta next.

(Editing by Martyn Herman)