By Lauren Lynch
Photo Credit: Tony Chang/Chang Photography
(April 18, 2010) Tournament officials could have installed speed bumps on the court and they probably still wouldn't have slowed Samantha Stosur from surging to the Family Circle Cup championship.
Delivering perhaps the most commanding performance of her career, Stosur won nine consecutive games to open an oppressive, 6-0, 6-3 annihilation of Vera Zvonareva to capture the Charleston championship in a overwhelmingly one-sided final that spanned just 52 minutes.
The 11th-ranked Stosur claimed her second career title and will re-enter the top 10 when the new Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings are released tomorrow. Stosur scored her fifth straight win over Zvonareva. She has won 12 of her last 14 matches.
"It's always great to be able to play well in any match, but to do it in a final where there's pressure and you want to win is great," Stosur told ESPN2's Pam Shriver immediately after the match. "To be able to do that for two sets and not let up is a great feeling."
The fourth-seeded Australian hit 36 winners in the 54 points she won, an astounding figure on a clay court against a tenacious defensive player in Zvonareva, who was the 2008 tournament runner-up.
A helpless Zvonareva had no answers against Stosur's authoritative baseline attack.
"Sam played unbelievable and she deserved to win today," said Zvonavera, who held a 5-2 lead over Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday's semifinals when the top-seeded Wozniacki was forced to retire with an ankle injury.
Stosur showed her clay-court skills in reaching the Roland Garros semifinals last June, falling to eventual-champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets.
The combination of Stosur's kick serve an her unerring topspin forehand proved a combustile combination.
Stosur opened with a love hold and quickly earned break point in the second game.
Racing forward behind a sharp angled backhand, Stosur slammed an overhead winner — her fifth winner — to break for 2-0.
Stosur spun a forehand winner down the line for her second love hold of the match.
Crunching a forehand winner, Stosur earned triple break point and broke at love for 4-0 when Zvonareva looped a forehand long. Stosur slammed a forehand winner down the line to hold at 30 for 5-0.
Desperately trying to make the match competitive, Zvonareva tried looping some higher balls to wrench her opponent out of the zone she occupied.
It didn't work.
Stosur stepped into a forehand winner down the line for 0-30. Zvonareva double faulted to face set point and sent a stray backhand beyond the baseline as a ruthless Stosur
claimed the first set, winning 24 points to just 5 for Zvonareva.
The onalsught continued in the second set as Stosur danced around her backhand and lashed a down the line forehand winner to hold at 30 for 1-0.
Changing direction effectively throughout the final, Stosur smacked a backhand winner down the line for triple break point and then hammered a forehand winner down the line to break at love for 2-0. It was Stosur's 15th forehand winner compared to one for Zvonareva.Stosur slammed an ace down the middle to hold at love for 3-0.
Then the fireworks began.
When Zvonareva double faulted in the fourth game, frustration reached a boiling point. Zvonareva smashed her Prince racquet to the court three times until the frame was completely contorted.
Then, in a move that would have made Marat Safin proud, Zvonareva hurled the racket at her bag and when it bounced off, she was waiting kicking the racket with a vengeance until the distorted frame found safe haven beneath the courtside coach. That raging racket abuse drew applause from the crowd desperate to see a competitive match and fired up the volatile Russian who saved break points and eventually snapped the nine-game skid to hold for 1-3.
"If you're gonna break it, you might as well do it like that: she did a great job," Stosur said afterward.
Stosur broke for 5-3. She slammed an overhead winner for triple championship point and fired a forehand winner off the back wall to close a commanding effort.