Sam Stosur ended Laura Robson’s string of victories over former Grand Slam winners Sunday and kept her own hopes alive for a repeat U.S. Open title.
Stosur needed nine match points to finally end the British teen’s run, winning 6-4, 6-4. The seventh-seeded Aussie closed out the match when she came in for a ball that ticked the net and knocked an unreturnable shot deep to her left-handed opponent’s forehand.
Robson, who had previously knocked out four-time Grand Slam titlist Kim Clijsters and 2011 French Open champion Li Na, tried to get back in the match after falling down 5-2 in the second set. Her 41 unforced errors turned out to be too much to overcome, though this will still go down as a successful summer.
Robson teamed with Andy Murray to win the silver medal in mixed doubles at the London Olympics. She was ranked 111th in singles before Wimbledon and is projected to rise to around No. 75 after the U.S. Open. She was the first British woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam since Jo Durie at the 1991 U.S. Open.
Stosur still hasn’t dropped a set at the U.S. Open in what has, so far, been a fairly low-profile tournament for the defending champion.
“It’s just different pressure, but I wouldn’t say it’s any worse,” Stosur said. “I’m happy to be in the quarters again.”
Evening matches scheduled for Sunday involved No. 3 Maria Sharapova vs. No. 19 Nadia Petrova, No. 5 Petra Kvitova vs. No. 11 Marion Bartoli and top-seeded Victoria Azarenka vs. unseeded Anna Tatshvili, who is ranked 73rd.