Samantha Stosur

Samantha Jane Stosur (English pronunciation: /ˈstoʊzər/ stoh-zər, born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 on the WTA Tour in doubles with Lisa Raymond from the United States. In singles, Stosur has wins against former No. 1s Ana Ivanović, Jelena Janković, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Lindsay Davenport, Amélie Mauresmo, Justine Henin and Caroline Wozniacki. She is currently ranked World No. 10 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. Stosur was runner-up in singles at the 2010 French Open.Stosur was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of Tony and Diane, and has two brothers, Dominic and Daniel.She is of Polish descent by way of a grandfather. When she was six the family house and business on the Gold Coast was destroyed by a flood, and the family decided to move to Adelaide.

There she started playing tennis, when she was given a racket for Christmas at the age of eight. While her parents worked long hours at the cafe they had started, Stosur played at local courts with older brother Daniel, who later encouraged their parents to take her to tennis lessons. Stosur attended Helensvale State High School on the Northern Gold Coast. She went away on her first overseas trip at the age of 13, competing in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.At 14 she joined the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) under Geoff Masters and in 2001, when she was 16, Stosur joined the Australian Institute of Sport tennis program.

Stosur first played professional tennis in 1999 on the ITF circuit. She debuted on the Women's Tennis Association tour in 2000, losing in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open. In 2001 she won four straight ITF titles. In 2002 she lost in the first round at the Gold Coast event.

In 2003 Stosur won her first WTA singles matches, reaching the third round of the Australian Open. She lost in the third round to No. 7 seed, Daniela Hantuchová. She also qualified for a WTA event in Memphis.In 2004 Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ai Sugiyama. The next week she reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Hobart, then the second round of the Australian Open.

In 2005 Stosur reached her first WTA tour final at her home event in Gold Coast, losing to Patty Schnyder. She was runner-up at the Sydney event, defeating by walkover the world's No 1 ranked player Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal and Elena Dementieva in the semifinal before losing to fellow Australian Alicia Molik, and won her first doubles title partnering Australian Bryanne Stewart at the same tournament. Stosur lost to World no. 2 Amélie Mauresmo in the first round of the Australian Open, but won the mixed doubles title with Scott Draper over Liezel Huber and Kevin Ullyett.In July she teamed up with American Lisa Raymond, winning seven WTA doubles titles before the end of the year, including the U.S. Open, the Kremlin Cup and the WTA Tour Championships. Stosur finished the year ranked #46 in singles and #2 in doubles.

Stosur returned playing two ITF tournaments before the 2008 Rome Masters, in May, where she was defeated in the second round by Venus Williams. The tournament also saw the return of the doubles team of Stosur and Lisa Raymond with a second round loss. Less than a month later they were defeated in the third round of the 2008 French Open, where Stosur reached the second round of singles losing to Petra Kvitová.

Stosur showed great promise at Wimbledon; while only making the second round in Singles, losing to Nicole Vaidišová, she made the finals of both the Ladies and Mixed Doubles. She and Lisa Raymond lost the final to Venus and Serena Williams. The Williams sisters had just previously played against each other in the final of the Ladies Singles. With mixed doubles partner Bob Bryan, they defeated Mike Bryan and Katarina Srebotnik to win the title.

At the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open Stosur was crushed by Maria Sharapova in the second round 6–0, 6–1. Seeded 15th at the China Open, Stosur lost a three-setter to Alizé Cornet. Stosur then played in Osaka as the third seed. She did not drop a set en route to the semifinals where she upset top seed Caroline Wozniacki 6–0, 4–6, 6–4. Stosur captured her first ever title on the WTA tour by beating Francesca Schiavone in the finals 7–5, 6–1 in just over an hour. This win secured her a spot at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions held in Bali. She also qualified at the 2009 WTA Tour Championships in the doubles event partnering compatriot Rennae Stubbs. They lost a hard fought semifinals match against no.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6–3, 6–7(3) 8–10.Stosur was one of only two players on tour who played at both year-end championships. The other one was María José Martínez Sánchez who was in Stosur's group at Bali for the round robin stage with Ágnes Szávay. Stosur won her first match against Szávay in three sets, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1 but lost her second to María José Martínez Sánchez 6–7(4), 5–7. This loss cost her the semifinals spot as Martínez Sánchez won both her round robin matches.

Stosur competed at the 2010 WTA Tour Championships where she was seeded fifth. Stosur was drawn in the Maroon Group alongside World No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, World No. 6 Francesca Schiavone, and World No. 9 Elena Dementieva, seeded first, fourth and seventh respectively due to the William Sisters' withdrawal. In her first match against Schiavone she avenged her Roland Garros final loss to the Italian by defeating her in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4, coming back from a 0–4 deficit in the first set. Her next opponent was World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Stosur continued her dominant showing recording a 6–4, 6–3 win to secure her spot in the semi-finals. She then fell to Elena Dementieva 6–4, 4–6, 6–7(4), but secured her spot in the semi-finals by winning one set. Stosur finished in 1st position in her round robin group, but lost to three-time US Open Champion and World No. 4 Kim Clijsters in the semi-finals.

Stosur was seeded 5th at the 2011 Australian Open. In the first round she easily overcame American wildcard and world number 443 Lauren Davis, 6–1 6–1, and continued her form in the second round against Vera Dushevina 6–3 6–2 but ended up losing in the third round to 25th seed Petra Kvitová, 7–6(5), 6–3.

Stosur's ranking rose to number 5 despite her early loss at the Australian Open. Stosur then rose to a new career high No. 4 following a quarterfinal showing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.Stosur had a disappointing start to the first American leg of the year falling in the 3rd round of the Indian Wells tournament to Dinara Safina, 6(2)-7, 4–6. At Miami, Stosur was seeded 4th and received a bye to the second round. She won her second round match against Zheng Jie 6–2 6–1, and then won again in the third round to 30th seed Lucie Šafářová, 6–0, 7–6(1). This was Stosur's first victory against Šafářová after losing to her in their other three encounters. However, her run was ended in the fourth round by 16th seed and former No. 1 Maria Sharapova, who defeated her, 6–4, 6–1.

Samantha Stosur Wallpaper

Samantha Stosur Dog