NEW YORK—On the brightest day of the tournament, “Good Day Sunshine” blared from the stadium speakers before Varvara Lepchenko took shadow swings behind the baseline. Lepchenko stayed in step with Samantha Stosur for one set, only to get burned by the scalding sting of the defending champ's serve and forehand.
The Aussie won 16 of 17 points played on her serve in the second set, reeling off five consecutive games at one stretch, to streak into the fourth round with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory.
This was a physical, baseline battle staged on the sun-baked court for one set, with each woman challenged by disarming spin and pace generated by the opponent. The left-handed Lepchenko’s cross-court forehand fed into Stosur’s weaker backhand wing, while the seventh-seed's hellacious kick serve and biting topspin forehand—combined with the some sudden bursts of breeze—caused some mishits, prompting the American to practice her normally reliable backhand swing between points.
The 31st-seeded Lepchenko took the court clad in her USA Olympic Team warm-up, reminiscent of another American lefty, John McEnroe, who often came to court wearing his red, white, and blue U.S. Davis Cup team jacket. This was the Uzbekistan-born Lepchenko’s first appearance on Arthur Ashe Stadium since she became an U.S. citizen last September, and it was a homecoming of sorts—the pride of Allentown, PA trains at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The pair traded breaks at the outset, then Stosur found her range on serve. She surrendered just five points over the course of her final nine service games. Lepchenko fought off three break points in a demanding hold for 2-2, then saved another break point for 4-4. Though they strike in different styles—Stosur backs you up with the shoulder-high bounce of her bounding topspin, while Lepchenko displaces you with the slice, then tries to hammer the first strike in the corner—both women were effective creating space for their shots in the first set, and neither could create separation through the first 10 points of the tiebreaker.
Until Stosur anticipated a Lepchenko wide serve and ripped a forehand down the line to earn set point at 6-5. When Lepchenko’s backhand down the line strayed wide, she bounced her Wilson frame off the court, staring down in disappointment with hands on hips in coming up short in a demanding 59-minute first set.
Snatching the opener relaxed Stosur, who grew even more ambitious on serve. Lepchenko tried to move back a bit to give herself more time and a slightly longer look at the return, but when Stosur hit her spots in the corners of the box, the 5’11” underdog was left lunging for 110+ M.P.H. serves spiking out of her strike zone.
Stosur slammed the door shut with conviction, delivering three consecutive love holds to seal the one-hour and 28-minute win. Stosur started the tournament as one of four former champions in the field, and ended her day as the first to reach the round of 16, where she will face Britain’s Laura Robson (who upset Li Na). The only signs of stress the sometime nervy Stosur displayed was when Tennis Channel analyst and compatriot Rennae Stubbs asked her to dance during the post-match interview on court.
“I can’t believe you did that to me,” a red-faced, smiling Stosur said to Stubbs before complying with the cheering crowd’s cajoling and bopping in a semi-funky sort of shuffle. She may have more moves to come.
