Stosur rings in the changes

14 June 2009 || By Monticelli

sam stosurSam Stosur spent almost as long chatting on her mobile phone as she required to dispatch with Sabine Lisicki on the no1 show court at Eastbourne's sun-soaked Devonshire Park on Monday morning.

The Australian was all smiles before the contest, and spent her time warming up by joking to friends on the phone rather than sticking to a strict exercises. And the exceptionally fit crowd favourite reeled off an emphatic 6-2, 6-1 to stun her German opponent in their one-way first round contest.

Stosur has surged up the world rankings and started her grass court season in the same style that took the Queenslander to the semi-finals at Eastbourne 2008 with her trademark overpowering serves and powerful forehand shots.

"Preparation for Wimbledon is going well, but I don't feel as a comfortable on grass as people have mentioned," admitted Stosur. "It's a bit harder to use my forehand as a weapon, like everyone saw on clay last week, but I don't mind playing on it. I took a few days off after Paris but I've been playing on some pretty fast indoor hard courts, and I feel like I've been able to adjust pretty quickly."

And prior to arriving for the pre-Wimbledon event, Stosur was one of the surprise packages at Roland Garros where she made it to the semi-finals. Her progress included a second round success over Lisicki, to make it three triumphs in as many matches between the pair.

sabine lisickiThe world no18 had previously run out a winner over Lisicki (pictured) on grass at the WTA Tour's 2008 event in Birmingham, but praised the young German. 

"She's a very good player, has a big serve and hits the ball hard, so on grass it's probably one of the tougher surfaces to play her on," Stosur said. "I like being able to play aggressively and try and get to the net, it forces me to do what I've been trying to work on for such a long time."

The gritty Aussie, a former world no1 at doubles, is now a major threat to the big guns in all tournaments and with her added confidence to likely to get further at Wimbledon than her usual first and second round exits in six previous attempts.

"Hopefully this year I can get a lot further as I really know what I want to be doing well," claimed Stosur.

But the determined Stosur has yet to capture a singles title despite making four finals, so Eastbourne's own mini-Wimbledon could be the perfect inspiration for the player who is the sole doubles expert in the world's top 20 with bigger and better results on the horizon.