Croatian teen sends Stosur out in Dubai

Australia’s Samantha Stosur has become the latest victim of rising Croatian star Ana Konjuh.

The 19-year-old world No.36 wasted little time sending Stosur out in the second round of the Dubai International with a 6-4 6-3 victory that took just over one hour and 20 minutes.

Stosur wasn’t without her chances though, the Australian simply couldn’t convert when it mattered, as Konjuh saved an amazing eight of nine break points.

For Konjuh, Stosur is the latest on a list of high-profile players she has beaten since the 2016 US Open, a list that includes Czech world No.20 Barbora Strycova, Dutch world No.23 Kiki Bertens and world No.6 Agnieszka Radwanska.

Konjuh will next play Russian eighth seed Elina Vesnina, who advanced to the last 16 with a straight sets win of her own over Japan’s Misaki Doi.

Stosur wasn’t the only seed to bow out though – the day of carnage in Dubai was just getting started.

Third seed Dominika Cibulkova was punted from the tournament by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 4-6 6-2.

Then French Open champion Garbine Muguruza was forced to retire from her match against Ukrainian veteran Kateryna Bondarenko with an Achilles problem.

Bondarenko was leading 3-0 when the Spaniard called for the trainer, and then at 4-1 Muguruza called it quits, before she indicated the injury initially flared last week in Doha.

“I have been training but on and off, honestly, because of the pain,” Muguruza said.

“Some days it was a little bit better, some days it was a little bit worse. It was just hard for me to serve, especially, and to just move side to side today on the court.”

The seeds continued to tumble when St Petersburg winner Kristina Mladenovic found her best tennis to hammer second seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-4 in a dominant display.

Olympic champion Monica Puig beat 15th-seeded Caroline Garcia 6-1 4-6 6-2 to add another seed to the Dubai scrap heap.

There were no such problems for Radwanska though – she cruised into the third round with a 6-3 6-2 rout of Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens – as did 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Swiss world No.59 Viktorija Golubic 6-4 6-2.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!