Samantha Stosur’s disappointing loss to Simona Halep has cost her a pre-US Open showdown with world No.1 Serena Williams.
Stosur’s had won nine of her previous 10 matches on the American hardcourts going into her third round clash with world No.25 Halep at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
But the Romanian triumphed over world No.11 Stosur 6-4 4-6 6-2 on Thursday to claim the quarter-final berth against Williams, who pounded out a 6-4 6-1 win over Germany’s Mona Barthel.
It means Stosur missed the chance to measure her game against the ultimate yardstick in women’s tennis – the player she beat in the 2011 US Open final – ahead of the year’s final grand slam starting in New York on August 26.
Rafael Nadal defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 5-7 6-2 to set up a quarter-final contest with Roger Federer
Nadal remains undefeated on hardcourt this season after winning titles in Indian Wells and last week in Montreal while Federer has been struggling this season.
Novak Djokovic with the top seed crushing Belgian qualifier David Goffin 6-2 6-0 in well under an hour.
Federer had to rally from the depths after a disaster of an opening set, finally subduing good friend Tommy Haas 1-6 7-5 6-3.
“I wasn’t playing great in the first set, I needed to clean up my game from the baseline,” said Federer, a crowd favourite at the venue. “I’m happy to be through to have another match.
“Sometimes on fast courts it’s tough to get rhythm, you are thinking of too many things. I had to simplify my game in order to win.”
Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov upset third seed David Ferrer 6-2 6-4. The Spaniard has won just one match in two Masters events over the past fortnight.
In other third-round results, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-4 1-6 6-4 while American John Isner defeated 12th seed Milos Raonic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 with the Canadian treated for shoulder and neck problems after five games.
On the women’s side of the combined WTA and ATP event, second seed Victoria Azarenka won a match littered with 13 breaks of serve, defeating Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4.
“I think it was a pretty good match, there was sometimes a little bit of trouble serving, but overall I felt better than I did in my first match,” said Azarenka. “I was much more controlling the game. It was really up to me today, I felt.
“I was doing everything I wanted to do. I feel still there can be a lot more improvement with the execution and a little bit more consistency, but it’s coming along.”
Roberta Vinci claimed an Italian showdown with sixth seed Sara Errani 6-4 6-3 while former No.1 Jelena Jankovic beat American Sloane Stephens 3-6 7-5 7-5.