Stosur takes walkover into Prague final
Sam Stosur benefitted from Sveta Kuznetsova's withdrawal to reach the Prague final.
Rod Laver Arena/Melbourne Park, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia, 30 April 2016 | AAP
Sam Stosur is through to her first WTA final in nine months after Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew from their Prague Open semi due to an abdominal injury.
The top-seeded Russian pulled out of their clash on Saturday in the Czech capital having struggled with the injury during her 4-6 7-5 6-4 quarter-final victory over Monica Puig the previous day.
Stosur, the Australian fourth seed, will take on Czech Lucie Safarova in the tournament decider after she defeated compatriot Karolina Pliskova 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
“It’s always nice to be in a final – however you get there you get there,” Stosur said. “It’s unfortunate for Svetlana [Kuznetsova], but I’ll take an easy day and wait for the girls to play.”
“It’s been a really good week. Yesterday’s match was really long so in some ways it’s nice for me to have an easy day today. But this is what you want at the start of the clay court season and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.”
It will be Stosur’s first final since July last year when she beat Karin Knapp to win the Bad Gastein title in Austria.