Sara Errani keeps SF battle alive at WTA Championships

By Magdalena Stanislav

Sara Errani keeps the competition warm at WTA Championships

ISTANBUL, Turkey (TheSportsNEXT) October 25, 2012: Sara Errani of Italy kept her hopes of making it into WTA Championships Semi-Finals alive on Thursday when she outlasted Samantha Stosur of Australia in three sets by 6-3 2-6 6-0 in Istanbul.

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Samantha Stosur, who replaced Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic after she had to pull out of the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships due to viral illness, couldn’t stand the challenge posed by her Italian opponent, especially in the third set where she could never offer a fight.

The victory for Sara Errani has added colors to the final day of the round-robin matches on Friday when two matches will decide the two semi-finalists as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have already qualified into last-four stage.

Sara Errani showed good control on her game in the opening set and raced to victory by 6-3 but Sam Stosur responded really well to the situation and won the second set 6-2 with an aggressive game plan which woke the Italian up in the third set and she made no further mistakes and won the penultimate set by 6-0.

Sara Errani told reporters after her impressive victory, "In the beginning she was making a lot of unforced errors, but in the second set she was playing amazing. I was just trying to stay focused and aggressive today and I think the third set was better for me."

Sam Stosur could never face the pressure against Sara Errani as she committed seven double faults as well as 49 unforced errors in the match.

Sam Stosur told reporters, “I really wanted to try and play a good match tonight and be at least one match up, but obviously the result wasn't quite that way. It was a little bit up and down - in the second set I got off to a good lead and then was able to hold onto that and win the set, and then I had a break point in the first game of the third and missed a return, and then it was like all the energy went out of me. I certainly dug myself into too much of a hole to try and get out."

Sara Errani had praise for her Australian opponent when she stated, “Sam is a great player but I was ready today. I'm happy I won and that I'm still in the tournament - I hope I can play well tomorrow too and maybe win, I don't know, we'll see how it goes."

Sara Errani will take on world number five Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in her final round-robin match at the WTA Championships which is very much a quarter-final for both the players as the winner of this match will proceed into knockout stage.

Sara said of Agnieszka Radwanska, "She's a very strong player. I know her and we have played before. It will be a tough match and we will see what happens."

In another mouth-watering showdown on Friday, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na will battle it out for a place in the last-four.

The first match on Friday is a dead-rubber between Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur because the result will have no effect on the standings in the White Group.