Stosur ousts Zvonareva at Stanford Classic

Fri, Jul 18 11:52 AM

By Matthew Cronin

STANFORD, Calif. (Reuters) - Australian Samantha Stosur upset third seed Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 in the second round of the Stanford Classic on Thursday.

Stosur, who got her place in the tournament after Lindsay Davenport pulled out, quickly found her stride and overpowered Zvonareva with a huge serve and clean groundstrokes.

"I really made the most of my opportunity getting in," said Stosur, who ended the match by serving four aces.

"I served well, played aggressive, hit the ball deep, attacked when I could and played pretty good defense."

The 24-year-old Stosur, who was sidelined by lyme disease from September through April but returned to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title earlier this month with Bob Bryan, added that she was encouraged by her progress.

Stosur will face Aleksandra Wozniak in the quarter-finals after the Canadian beat Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-4 7-5.

Fifth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland advanced with a 7-6 6-4 win over Russian Alisa Kleybanova, earning herself a match-up with top seed Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.

"I had a plan. It was just a matter of how many points she would allow me to do it," Schnyder said.

"She was trying to dictate everything, whether winners or errors. I think she was so dominant it was tough for me to play. I had to mix it up a lot."

Sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France came back from 1-4 deficit and two breaks down in the final set to beat Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-3 1-6 7-5.

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