Stosur wins Charleston in a stunning display of dominating tennis

No one on the tour can break a racquet quite like Vera Zvonareva, and when she cracked her Prince today during the second set of the Charleston final, it seemed as though everyone in the stands was experiencing a catharsis along with her. Zvonareva, who was the finalist in 2008, acknowledged earlier this week that she is still not as fit as she was before she tore two ligaments in her ankle last year (also in Charleston), but it looked as though no degree of fitness could have helped her today.

Sam Stosur, the tournament's 4th seed, walked onto the court and immediately began serving a series of unreturnable balls. And when Zvonareva did return them, Stosur found the lines over and over, completely dominating Zvonareva, and taking the first set 6-0, dropping only five points.

Stosur, not even breaking a sweat, quickly went up 3-0 in the second set. After Zvonareva double-faulted, she smacked her racquet on the court three times and headed toward the Charleston-style sofa provided by the tournament for each player. She received a racquet abuse violation warning from chair umpire Lynn Welch, then smashed the racquet again on the court near her seat. Zvonareva looked at the crumpled racquet, and then gave it few solid kicks for good measure. She returned to the court to loud cheers of encouragement from the crowd, and held serve for the first time.

Zvonareva then broke Stosur, and it wasn't unreasonable to think there would be a momentum change in the match. But for Stosur, that was just a brief interim in a performance of almost total domination. She got the break back, and went on to win the second set 6-3, holding at love in her final service game. The 52-minute match was the shortest in Family Circle Cup history.

Stosur served only three aces, but her first and second serve win percentages were a whopping 86 and 69, and her first and second return percentages were 63 and 73. This was only her second tour singles title, but there is every reason to believe there will be more.

When she received her runner-up trophy, Zvonareva, recovered and good-humored enough to deliver a one-liner, said, "I would like to thank my team...for supporting me this week, even though I think they did a terrible job today." Later, when told that she didn't seem to have an answer for Stosur's power, a more serious Zvonareva said "No, I think there were answers. I think I just didn't make the right decisions at the right time...."

Zvonareva also gets credit for the best line of the tournament: "...you got to try to change something up, you know, maybe just change even like emotionally, try to maybe relax more and, you know, just relax and enjoy the game, just maybe break a racquet, forget about what was happening for the past half an hour and start all over again."

Jankovic and Stosur advance to Indian Wells semifinals

aAlisa Kleybanova finally ran out of fuel, and no wonder, with the battles she has fought in this year's BNP Paribas Open. Kleybanova has provided the most entertainment in Indian Wells, however, and she has a lot of which to be proud. Today, though, she just didn't have as much to give, and 6th seed Jelena Jankovic hung with her and took advantage, winning their quarterfinal match 6-4, 6-4. Kleybanova, as usual, hit a lot of winners, but also made a lot of unforced errors.

The other quarterfinal match featured two players known for their great serves and their expert volleys, but you might not have known that if you saw them for the first time today. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who got to the quarterfinals by taking out both 3rd seed Victoria Azarenka and 13th seed Yanina Wickmayer, was obviously a bundle of nerves in this, her first really big quarterfinal appearance. I thought that--as the match went on--Martinez Sanchez would relax more and get into a groove, but she never really did. There were flashes of her wonderful serving and her quickness at the net, but those were neutralized by multiple errors, both forced and unforced. The Spaniard held a set point in the second set tiebreak, but could not convert.

As for 8th seed Stosur, she was not at her best, but she was certainly good enough, and between her cracking forehand and her opponent's anxiety, she had a 6-3, 7-6 win.

Jankovic and Stosur will play one another in the semifinals. The other semifinal match will feature 5th seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 2nd seed Caroline Wozniacki, who are close friends.