Samantha Stosur carried the Fed Cup momentum into the Porsche Grand Prix as the Australian breezed 6-2, 6-2 past Peng Shuai of China in the tournament opener on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Stosur took 59 minutes for the first-round victory, wrapping up her fourth success in as many meetings with the 25th-ranked Peng with a forehand winner.
Stosur, the reigning US Open champion and Stuttgart finalist from 2010, won two singles rubbers on the weekend in the same arena for Australia’s 3-2 against Germany in a Fed Cup playoff tie.
“It (the tournament) is a different feeling, but I am one of the lucky few who trained and played here last week,” said Stosur. Due on court later Tuesday were French seven seed Marion Bartoli, French Open champion Li Na of China and title-holder Julia Goerges of Germany.
The top four seeds Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska have first-round byes at the indoor clay court tournament bringing together the eight best players from this week’s rankings.
Stosur has winning start in Stuttgart
