Stosur outplayed in Stanford quarterfinal

After capturing her first win over Israel’s Shahar Peer in the previous round, Aussie Sam Stosur was unable to repeat the same feat against Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova in the quarterfinals of the WTA Tour event at Stanford this morning.

When they met in January this year 22-year-old Stosur took a set off the talented young Czech, but a much-improved Vaidisova proved far too strong for the Australian on this occasion.

The 6-4 6-2 score line was a result of Vaidisova’s ability to place relentless pressure on her opponent’s serve, forcing Stosur to a poor first serve percentage of 48 per cent as she searched for that little bit extra on her serve.

As a result, the 43rd-ranked Aussie conceded four breaks of serve to the tournament’s No.3 seed in a match where her opponent was just too good for her on the day.

Earlier in the day, unseeded Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin upset German fourth seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4 7-6(5), while second seed Patty Schnyder disposed of 6-4 7-5 to book herself a spot in the semi-finals.

While Golovin and Schnyder will contest one of the semi-final matches, Vaidisova’s win sees her in a tough encounter against the defending champion and Belgian world No.2 Kim Clijsters, who ended the impressive winning form of a rejuvenated Vera Zvonareva of Russia with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 victory.

At the men’s ATP Tour in Los Angeles, Andre Agassi said one more farewell on his way to retiring after the US Open, as he was outgunned 6-4 3-6 7-5 in the quarterfinals by Chilean world No.17 Fernando Gonzalez.

Agassi, a four-time and the defending champion at Los Angeles, finished his career at the hard court event with a remarkable 36-7 record.

In other news, Andy Roddick, the top seed at Los Angeles, was forced out of the tournament with a minor back injury he suffered during his second round match to put a slight kink in his US Open preparations.

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