MELBOURNE – Australia’s Samantha Stosur was determined to remain positive despite her straight sets loss to Czech Petra Kvitova in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday.
“I’m obviously very disappointed to not win but I actually thought I played really well,” she said. “It was so close, I mean, that first set. Don’t really know how I lost it, to be honest. “Felt like I started playing a bit better and was probably on top of her and then all of a sudden it was gone and I was a set down. I think it was a match of a point here and a point there and she got the ones that really mattered.
“It’s a tough loss, but I think I can walk off thinking I played quite well and did everything that I could.” Stosur also said the pressure of playing in front of home fans desperate for Australian Open success had not bothered her this week.
“Oh, I actually felt good this week, you know – I went about practising the way I wanted to, playing the matches. The three matches I played here I felt really good and settled and comfortable out there,” she said. “I really enjoyed it. I know there was a little bit of pressure, more eyes on me and everything that I do, but I don’t think that distracted me in any way.”
Kvitova reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2010 and won last week’s Brisbane International, and Stosur said she thought she could go a lot further in Melbourne. “She won Brisbane, she’s obviously feeling good. Yeah, I think she can go a little bit further that’s for sure,” Stosur said. Kvitova plays Italian Flavia Pennetta in the next round after the 22nd seed upset 10th-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
“I played her I think in Beijing and I won, but the match before I lost on clay,” Kvitova said. “So I think it will be tough match. I have to be focused on each point.”
