Aussie Stosur defeats Zheng to move into Carson semifinals

Aussie Stosur beats Zheng in 3 sets at Carson

CARSON, Calif. — Samantha Stosur rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Zheng Jie of China at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships on Friday, moving the Aussie doubles specialist into the semifinals for the second consecutive week.

Stosur has enjoyed a solid run in singles the last few months, reaching a career-best ranking of 18th in June. She has yet to win a singles title on the WTA Tour, although she’s been a four-time runner-up, including once last year.

“It’s definitely a goal of mine to try and win a singles title. I’ve been in four finals and lost every one of them in three sets,” she said. “My whole career I’ve been trying to become a better singles player. This year it’s all just come together.”

A week ago, Stosur defeated Serena Williams in three sets before losing to eventual winner Marion Bartoli in the semifinals at Stanford.

Stosur called the victory “one of my best wins. She’s probably the best player out here at the moment, so no doubt it gave me confidence.”

She beat then-No. 2 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals at Miami in March and reached the French Open semis in June.

The 25-year-old Australian is best known for her doubles success, including 22 career titles, the world’s No. 1 ranking and two Grand Slam mixed titles.

Stosur scored her second win over the 14th-seeded Zheng this week, having beaten the Chinese woman in doubles on Wednesday. Stosur’s booming serve at 40-love closed out their singles match and avenged a three-set loss to Zheng at Dubai in February.

Stosur, seeded 13th, advanced to Saturday’s semifinals against Sorana Cirstea of Romania, a 7-6 (4), 1-6, 7-5 winner over eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. The Aussie will be able to concentrate fully on singles after she and partner Rennae Stubbs, the top seeds, were knocked out of doubles Thursday.

Maria Sharapova, on the comeback trail after a shoulder injury, was to play Radwanska’s sister Urszula in a night match. No. 10 seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, runner-up here last year, met second-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia in another quarterfinal.

Stosur needed two hours to put away Zheng, who upset No. 1-ranked Safina in three sets in the third round Thursday. Stosur connected on 77 percent of her first serves and saved 5-of-8 break points, including the only one in the third set.

“She loves the pace and the harder you hit it, the more she hits it back at you,” Stosur said. “Once I got that break in the third set, I was able to hold on to it. I was really pleased it only took that one break to win the match.”

Cirstea played with pain from plantar fasciitis in her right foot that began bothering her in the tiebreaker. She was assured by a trainer that she couldn’t injure her foot any more, so she kept going.

“Last week was my first match on hard court. I was trying to adjust a little bit from grass and clay,” she said. “Today I came in with a lot of confidence on the court. I had patience and that’s why I won.”