{"id":2864,"date":"2011-09-12T15:04:26","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T07:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=2864"},"modified":"2011-09-12T15:04:26","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T07:04:26","slug":"stosur-wins-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2011\/09\/12\/stosur-wins-us-open","title":{"rendered":"STOSUR WINS US OPEN!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Samantha Stosur is Australia\u2019s first female grand slam singles champion in 31 years after pulling off a stunning upset over a ranting Serena Williams in the US Open final.<\/p>\n

Stosur produced the match of her life against 13-times grand slam champion Williams and won 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 13 minutes in front of 23,000 people on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The result made her Australia\u2019s first grand slam champion since Evonne Goolagong Cawley secured her second Wimbledon title in 1980.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the nation had claimed the women\u2019s singles crown at the tournament since Margaret Court Smith in 1973.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I had one of my best days so I guess I\u2019m very fortunate to have been able to do it on this stage in New York where I\u2019ve always loved to play, so thanks everyone,\u201d Stosur said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I really started playing and knew what a grand slam was, this was always a dream of mine to be here one day and I don\u2019t really know what to say or how how I\u2019m feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The composure Stosur showed in capturing her maiden grand slam revived memories of Lleyton Hewitt\u2019s win in the final on the very same court against Pete Sampras a decade ago.<\/p>\n

However the match was not without controversy with Williams berating the chair umpire after receiving a one-point penalty for verbal hindrance.<\/p>\n

Williams walked out onto court following emotional September 11 tributes ahead of Stosur, with the players hitting up in light rain.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for under-fire officials, it did not last long and play started on time with a calculating Stosur taking advantage of a nervous Williams to capture the first set in 31 minutes.<\/p>\n

However the match looked like turning at the end of the opening game of the second set following the controversial decision by the chair umpire.<\/p>\n

Williams shouted \u201ccome on\u201d just as Stosur went to hit a ball on the baseline and the chair umpire penalised the American under the hindrance rule.<\/p>\n

The decision handed Stosur an early break of serve and it infuriated Williams as she directed some sharp words at the chair umpire.<\/p>\n

It also woke up the crowd who booed the decision and a fired-up Williams then broke Stosur\u2019s serve for the first time in the match.<\/p>\n

Williams called the chair umpire a \u201chater\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ever see me walking down the hall, walk the other way,\u201d she said to chair umpire Eva Asdaraki at the next change of ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re unattractive on the inside \u2026 I never complain\u2026 You give me a code violation for expressing my emotions, we\u2019re in America!\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident revived memories of Williams\u2019 ugly outburst at a lineswoman during her semi-final loss to Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open.<\/p>\n

Williams even referenced it in her initial outburst to Asdaraki on court.<\/p>\n

\u201cAren\u2019t you the one who screwed me over last time?,\u201d Williams bellowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is totally not cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident seemed to rattle Stosur for a couple of games but she held tough and took a break for a 4-3 lead in the second set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the noise going right through my chest it was so loud I didn\u2019t really know what to think I just tried to stay calm and think about the next point,\u201d Stosur told Fox Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously that fired her up a bit and I was hoping she wasn\u2019t going to get too angry and start playing unbelievable \u2026 I was just happy I was able to close it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Queenslander yelled out \u201cCome on\u201d as she took a 5-3 lead before taking the match on her third championship point by ripping a forehand winner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha Stosur is Australia\u2019s first female grand slam singles champion in 31 years after pulling off a stunning upset over a ranting Serena Williams in the US Open final. Stosur produced the match of her life against 13-times grand slam champion Williams and won 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 13 minutes in front of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5894,"featured_media":2865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}