No. 7 seed, Samantha Stosur of Australia stunned the tennis world by taking out World No. 1 Serena Williams of the USA in a 3-set thriller, 6-2, 6-7(2), 8-6 in a quarterfinal match at the 2010 French Open in Paris.
Samantha came out strong, dominating play on her serve and against Serena’s serve. Samantha played patiently, slicing her backhand deep, waiting for the short one which she could put away with her powerful forehand. Serena was obviously frustrated throughout the match with Samantha’s backhand slice.
Samantha got two breaks to take the first set 6-2. Serena continued to have trouble with Samantha’s serves, often hitting them long, allowing Samantha to win her first two service games at love in the 2nd set.
Samantha broke in the second set to go up 5-3 and serve for the match. Nerves started showing as Samantha committed her first double fault of the match. Serena went on to break to get back on serve at 5-4. Both continued to hold serve forcing a 2nd set tie break.
Stosur started showing some tension during the tie break, losing her first point, then falling down 4-1. Serena won the tie break 7-2 to force a 3rd set.
In the 3rd set Serena started off nervously, committing a double fault on break point to go down 0-1. Serena then broke back to even the set at 1 all. They stayed on serve to 4-5. Serena had a match point at 30-40, but Samantha was able to hold to even the match at 5 all. At 6 all, Samantha earned two break points, and broke on the first one, giving her another chance to serve for the match.
At 7-6, Samantha got up 40-15, giving her two match points. She hit a big serve which Serena hit long, giving Samantha the win, and a berth in the seminfinal where she will face No. 4 seed, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.
