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| Zheng Jie of China reacts during her second round women's singles against Samantha Stosur of Australia on the third day of 2013 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 16, 2013. Zheng Jie won 2-1. (Xinhua/Bai Xue) |
MELBOURNE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Zheng Jie overcame a 2-5 deflect in the deciding set to beat ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4, 1-6 and 7-5 in the second round at the Australian Open here on Wednesday.
The shattering defeat continued Stosur's horror run at her home Grand Slam. The 2011 US Open champion has never ventured beyond the fourth round in 11 visits to Melbourne, including a first-round trip last year.
Stosur appeared to have the match in the bag only to twice falter while trying to serve it out and then dropping serve for a third consecutive time to hand the world No.40 victory after two hours and 42 minutes.
"Obviously it's a pretty hard one to take when you get yourself well and truly into a winning position." said Stosur. "Then all of a sudden you get to 5-2 and you lose five games straight."
The odds were stacked against Stosur when she dropped the opening set after 54 minutes.
Stosur had won only six grand slam matches from 37 tries after losing the first set and also lost to Zheng last week in Sydney.
But the local hope gritted her teeth to force a third set and raise hopes of a rare comeback win.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Zheng reeled off five straight games to snatch victory and set up a third-round clash on Friday with No.18 seed Julia Goerges.
"In the final set 2-5, I was thinking that the first time I played in centre court is 2006. How many times I can play on court like this? I need to keep fighting and enjoy the match." said Zheng. "Just that simple. It's amazing that I can come back."
"Today I feel Sam Stosur is play much better from last week. Kick serve and the big forehand. Also backhand slice is giving me big trouble," said Zheng. "But today I try to play more aggressive. I try to go to the net, giving her some pressure. And this way is the key to win the match."
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