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)Cork and Tar.Give Up Yourself Lover .Seven Nation Army radio and Club remixes .Download A Band in Hope.Bittersuess remixes volume2
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)Cork and Tar.Give Up Yourself Lover .Seven Nation Army radio and Club remixes .Download A Band in Hope.Bittersuess remixes volume2