Stosur sinks Azarenka to end trophy drought

 

Originally published on: 05/08/13 00:00

Having lost her opening match to Olga Govortosova at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford the previous week, the Australian opted to take a wildcard in Carlsbad rather than return to her training base in Florida.

And the decision to get more matches under her belt paid dividends as Stosur defeated world No.3 Victoria Azarenka in the final to claim her first title since her 2011 US Open triumph.

After defeating No.2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 2-6 6-3 in the quarter-finals, Stosur saw off surprise semi-finalist Virginie Razzano in straight sets to set up a final clash with Azarenka.

Stosur had lost all eight previous meetings against Azarenka, but played with confidence – converting four of her five break point chances to claim a 6-2 6-3 victory, while Azarenka was left to rue 11 missed break point opportunities.

"This is obviously a huge boost for me," Stosur said. "I haven't had great results all year really, so to be able to bounce back, especially from last week's first round loss, and play better and better each day, it's really exciting and a good boost going into the last Grand Slam tournament of the year.

"It has been a long time since I've held a winner's trophy. To do it here, I'm very, very happy."

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