Australian Sam Stosur suffered an embarrassing loss on American soil in the lead-up to next month’s US Open in Flushing Meadows.
Former US Open champ Stosur has been in a free fall down the women’s singles rankings since defeating Serena Williams in the 2011 final and experienced another low point in the first round of the Bank of West Classic at Stanford University, losing to Japanese teenage qualifier Naomi Osaka 4-6, 7-5 (7), 7-5 in the opening round.
The 16-year-old Osaka rallied to claim a 5-3 second set lead before collecting three straight points to hold off Stosur in the tiebreaker, later overcoming a 5-3 deficit in the third to win the final four games against the unseeded Australian.
The surprise win was the world No.406’s first in a maiden WTA Tour appearance and advances to face eighth seed German Andrea Petkovic in the second round.
The out of form world No.19 will require some gutsy efforts to keep Western Australian Casey Dellacqua at bay over the coming months. The 29-year-old moved to a career-high ranking of 31 and now has a chance an Open seed, kicking off in New York on August 25.
“Feeling a tad excited that I am at a new career high of #31 today,” Dellacqua tweeted earlier this week.
Both Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic enjoyed straight set wins at the Washington ATP Citi Open.
Tomic rolled to a sixth straight win in a 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez after winning last week’s Claro Open Columbia as the 21-year-old looks to build on his slip down the world rankings to 72.
The controversial youngster faces 15th seed Denis Istomin in the next round.
Matosevic, who lost to John Isner in last week’s Atlanta Open quarter-final, will meet fellow Aussie Lleyton Hewitt after defeating Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-4, 7-5.
Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
