Samantha Stosur Great Tennis Star 2011 Biography and Pictures

Biography

Samantha Stosur (born March 30, 1984 in Brisbane, Australia) is a professional tennis player from Australia.

Career
Samantha first played professional tennis in 1999 on the ITF circuit. In 2000 she debuted on the Women's Tennis Association tour where she lost in the first round of Australian Open qualifying to Louise Latimer. In 2001 she won four straight ITF titles (three in Japan and one in Australia). In 2002 she lost to Anastasia Myskina at the first round at the Gold Coast event; she was also given a Wildcard into the Australian Open where she lost in three sets to Greta Arn. For the rest of the 2002 season, Samantha played on the ITF Circuit.

In 2003 Samantha won her first WTA singles match on home soil where she reached the third round of the Australian Open, beating Conchita Martinez and Vanessa Webb in the first and second round respectively. She lost in the third round to Daniela HantuchovÃ¡ with a scoreline of 6-4 6-2. Samantha qualified for a WTA event in Memphis. She played more ITF events and failed to qualify for Roland Garros losing in the first qualifying round to Wynne Prakusya. She was given a Wildcard into Wimbledon, meeting Lindsay Davenport in the first round where she lost 7-6 7-5.

In 2004 she reached the semi-final of the Gold Coast event, beating Meghann Shaughnessy, Karolina Å prem and Magui Serna along the way, before falling to Ai Sugiyama, who would go on to win the tournament. The next week she reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Hobart and then the second round of the Australian Open, losing to Aniko Kapros. She later successfully qualified for WTA events in Acapulco, Indian Wells, Vienna and Birmingham. She lost in the first round of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She competed at the Athens Olympics where she lost in the first round of the tennis competition to Chanda Rubin. She continued to play WTA qualifying events, successfully qualifying for the Japan Open and Bali in the autumn of 2004.

In 2005 she reached her first WTA tour final at the Gold Coast event, losing to Patty Schnyder; the next week she made her second final at Sydney losing to Alicia Molik. She met AmÃ©lie Mauresmo in the first round of the Australian Open, losing 6-2 6-3. However, she won the mixed doubles title with fellow Australian Scott Draper. In 2005 she won seven WTA doubles titles with her partners Bryanne Stewart (Sydney and Amelia Island) and Lisa Raymond (New Haven, US Open, Luxembourg, Moscow, Year Ending Championships).
Samantha finished the year ranked #96 in singles and #2 in doubles.

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