TheSportsCampus

Samantha Stosur will attempt to win her first ever WTA Tour singles title when she goes up against 4th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the final of the HP Japan Women's Open a $220,000 International Series event currently underway in Osaka.

 

The Italian was the first lady into the final as she dispatched good friend and often doubles partner Sania Mirza in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour. Mirza struggled to find any form in the encounter, failing to create a single break opportunity in the match, and dropping her serve twice in each set to lose to Schiavone for the third consecutive time in her career.

Despite the setback, the young Indian superstar can be quite satisfied with her efforts this week, upsetting 5th seed Shahar Peer and 2nd seed Marion Bartoli enroute to the last four.

In the other semi-final, Samantha Stosur went through an emotional roller coaster against top seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki. Stosur came out all guns blazing racing to a 6-0, 3-1 lead before a Wozniacki fightback saw the world no.6 rattled off 6 of the next seven games to level the match at a set apiece.

The final set was a very close affair as both players held serve comfortably right through till the end when Stosur broke decisively to seal a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 win.

Stosur holds the edge going into the final having beaten Schiavone the last three times they met, including twice in straight sets this year. However she has a terrible record in finals, failing to win in all five of her career trips to the last Sunday of an event. Schiavone hasn't faired much better herself, having lost in 9 of 10 finals she has played.

Atleast for one of them tomorrow, something's gotta give!

Saturday Scores:

Singles - Semifinals
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 60 46 64
(4) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Sania Mirza (IND) 62 61

File Photograph Copyright: Jan Dembowski