| By Erik Gudris |
Photo Credit: Ralf Reinecke |
(April 26th, 2012) Playing at home can either be a blessing or a curse. Just ask Sam Stosur.
Stosur's own travails playing in Melbourne are well known, but it's been interesting to watch how the quartet of German women still left in the draw at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart have handled the pressure of playing in front of their country in the only WTA event held all year in Germany.
For some like young Mona Barthel, she's probably the first to tell you "What pressure?". Gauging by the enigmatic expression she wore as she systematically dismantled Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour proves Barthel has either added ice water to her veins or she simply doesn't feel any added expectation to do well this week.
Notching her first ever win over a top ten player, Barthel will now try for her first ever win against a No. 1 as she takes on Victoria Azarenka for the fourth time this year. Azarenka was leading Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 4-4 when Petkovic rolled her ankle in a nasty spill that required Petkovic to be helped off court by both a trainer and Azarenka. One can only hope this latest injury doesn't detail Petkovic comeback after she missed several months with a stress fracture in her back.
Defending champion Julia Goerges certainly showed she was feeling the pressure of being a local favorite when she started her second round match against Stosur. Though Goerges won their previous meeting in Stuttgart last year and had never lost to the Aussie, Goerges got off to a ragged start that allowed Stosur to jump out to a 5-1 lead after the Aussie hit a clever slice backhand around the net posts for a winner.
Stosur closed out the set but Goerges finally settled down and it was her turn to whack winners from all sides of the court as she jumped out to a 4-1 double break lead. Goerges played a nearly perfect second set as she hit only three unforced errors and looked poised to out duel Stosur in the final set.
But Stosur stepped up, especially in her service games where she fought off an early break point to go up 2-1 in third. On her next service game, something distracted Goerges -- perhaps a fan or the mega jumbotron image of her and Stosur hanging on the far side of the court. Whatever it was it was just enough to throw off her rhythm and allowed Stosur to break for 3-1.
Stosur didn't flinch for the rest of the match and served up a final ace down the middle to finally defeat Goerges for the first time 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Stosur now gets Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.
The last match of the day, if you want to call it that, saw yet another German Angelique Kerber take on last year's finalist Caroline Wozniacki. Like Barthel earlier, Kerber seemed unfazed by either the crowd or her opponent as she simply outplayed the former No. 1 for the entire match in a near rout.
After dropping the first set, Wozniacki avoided the dreaded "bagel" in the second set, but Kerber's 28 winners proved too much as she easily won 6-1, 6-1. For Wozniacki, this defeat may prove to be the wake-up call she needs to turnaround what's been for her a disappointing 2012 season.
For Kerber and Barthel, who were likely unknown to many German tennis fans this time last year, both are certainly proving that playing at home this year suits them just fine.