Sam Stosur falls in Brisbane International as Tennis Australia admits to ‘transitional’ year

Australia World

Posted January 08, 2020 18:17:33

Tennis Australia is in advanced talks about the introduction of a WTA Cup amid discontent from women’s players who feel they are playing second fiddle to the men this summer.

Key points:

  • Tennis Australia is working on introducing a nation-based tournament for women’s tennis, similar to the ATP Cup
  • Female players have been disappointed about playing matches on the outside courts in Brisbane
  • Sam Stosur has been knocked out of the Brisbane International in the second round

With the inaugural men’s ATP Cup monopolising prime courts at the Queensland Tennis Centre at the expense of the women’s Brisbane International, American world number 24 Sloane Stephens labelled the situation as “girls to the side” after her first-round defeat on Tuesday.

Sam Stosur described the situation as a “bit rough” as the women’s matches were played on the outside courts, while the group matches of the ATP Cup were played on Pat Rafter Arena.

With the Hopman Cup and popular Sydney International events also making way on the calendar for the new ATP Cup, Tennis Australia (TA) CEO Craig Tiley conceded there will be some growing pains as it tinkered with the lead into the Australian Open.

“We’re excited about the future … this is a transformational and transitional year,” Tiley said.

“It’s transformational in that we introduced the ATP Cup, which we can see the success of [already], but the women’s version is still in the planning stages.

“The players and all of our stakeholders have known that it’s a transitional year.”

Tiley will meet Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday to talk about the redevelopment of the Queensland Tennis Centre and the potential for a new show court to be built.

The TA chief was not in a position to put a timeframe on the introduction of a WTA Cup but he said talks with the WTA were well advanced.

“I spoke to the CEO [Steve Simon] this morning and we’re meeting in a couple of weeks … at the right time we’ll announce what we’ve got planned for the women,” he said.

“I’m excited for them because they’re keen … they’ve seen what’s happened on the men’s side.

“But it was not possible to do them at the same time because the planning for both was different.”

Stosur beaten by Keys

On the outside courts at the Brisbane Tennis Centre, Stosur’s bright start to the summer has been halted by the power of Madison Keys in a 7-5, 6-3 second-round loss in the Brisbane International.

Local hope Stosur had upset former world number one Angelique Kerber to progress beyond the first round for just the second time in seven years on Monday.

However, the 35-year-old could not match the power of the world number 13 on the Stadium Court at the Brisbane Tennis Centre, falling to a straight-sets defeat in 77 minutes.

The veteran started well against the eighth seed and 2017 US Open finalist by grabbing an early break on Wednesday.

But the American responded with a break of her own, and applied the pressure again in the 12th game to seal the first set.

Keys broke serve again to begin the second before, behind 10 aces, going on to seal the victory.

Former US Open champion Stosur will continue her Australian Open preparation at the Hobart International, which starts on Saturday.

It was the third American success on Wednesday after Alison Riske beat Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-4 and Danielle Collins trounced Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-0.

Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty will not begin her singles campaign until Thursday but is already just one win from the doubles final.

Barty combined with Dutch talent Kiki Bertens to beat second seeds Nicole Melichar and Yifan Xu 6-3, 6-2 in less than an hour on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old will play Jennifer Brady in the second round on Thursday to open her singles campaign.

AAP/ABC

Topics: sport, tennis, australia, qld, brisbane-4000, tennyson-4105