Samantha Stosur has powered her way into the French Open third round with a straight-sets defeat of Austrian Yvonne Meusburger.
On a day when Stosur’s quarter of the draw was blown wide open by the shock exit of reigning champion Serena Williams, the Australian 19th seed won 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 23 minutes on Wednesday.
Stosur set up a third-round meeting with Slovakian ninth seed and Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, a player she has never lost to in four previous meetings.
Both women will head into the clash buoyed by Williams’ 6-2 6-2 loss to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, given the top seed had loomed as a likely quarter-final opponent.
Stosur, without a last-16 appearance in her past five grand slams, won’t be getting too far ahead of herself but the early signs look strong at Roland Garros.
On another cool and overcast day in Paris, the 30-year-old – again sporting heavy padding on her leg due to a cut suffered in training – started brilliantly.
Despite only 20 places difference in rankings, it looked a total mismatch early as world No.38 Meusburger had no answers for the Australian’s power and precision.
Stosur took the first set with minimal fuss, blasting her eighth forehand winner to wrap it up in 30 minutes.
Meusburger took advantage of a sloppy service game from Stosur to get on the board first in the second set.
Normal service was resumed when Stosur broke back to love but errors crept into her game and Meusburger proved a stubborn opponent in the second set.
The pair traded breaks but Stosur sealed the win with her third match point.
Stosur’s four previous victories against Cibulkova include a 6-4 6-1 win in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros two years ago.