Stosur beats Serena to win the US Open
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Xinhua, September 12, 2011
Aussie Samantha Stosur beat Serena Williams to win the US Open and also her first Grand Slam tennis title on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Stosur become the first Australian woman in 31 years to capture a major singles championship.
Ninth seed Stosur overpowered the 28th-seeded Williams 6-2, 6-3 through one hour, 13 minutes.
She's the third straight women's player to capture her first major this year after China's Li Na took the French Open title and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic won Wimbledon.
"I think I had one of my best days," Stosur said. "This was a dream of mine to be here one day, and I don't really know what to say and how I'm feeling."
Williams, whose previous appearance at the U.S. Open in a 2009 semifinal loss ended with a foot fault and a penalty point when she threatened a lineswoman, had more controversy in today's final.
She lost a point, and a service game, in the second set because she yelled "Come on!" before the point was over. She faced a break point on her serve when she slammed a forehand that Stosur barely tipped as it shot past her.
Match umpire Eva Asderaki cited Williams for a verbal hindrance because she shouted before Stosur had a chance to swing at the ball. The point, and first game of the second set, went to Stosur.
Williams had a contentious discussion with chair umpire that included Williams saying, "If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way."
"I get a code violation for this? I express who I am. We're in America," Williams said later after the awarding ceremony in an on-court interview.
"I hit a winner, but I guess it didn't count," Williams said. "But it wouldn't have mattered in the end."
Talking about what she said to the umpire in the post match conference, Williams said: "I don't even remember what I said. It was just so intense out there. It's the final for me, and I was -- I guess I'll see it on YouTube. I was just in the zone. I think everyone, when they play, they kind of zone out kind of thing. I don't know."
Williams made a brief comeback after the controversy, breaking Stosur's serve in the next game and winning her next two service games to take a 3-2 lead. Stosur, who won the final 12 points of the first set, responded by winning the final four games of the match.
Stosur played 147 games in the first six rounds of the tournament compared with 103 for Williams, and was part of a women's Grand Slam record when she and Maria Kirilenko played a 17-15 tiebreaker, in which Stosur lost, in the fourth round,
Williams, who had not lost a set in the tournament before the final, was the pre-tournament favorite to win her 14th Grand Slam singles title.
The 29-year-old American was playing the US Open for the first time since 2009 and was coming back from two operations on her foot and blood clots in her lungs, returning to the courts in June after more than a year on the sidelines.
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