Na Li of China hits a return against Samatha Stousur of Australia during Rogers Cup action at the Rexall Centre at York University in Toronto, Ont. Aug. 11/2011.Kevin Van Paassen
While many players have struggled in the wind at the Rogers Cup in recent days, the overly breezy conditions played right into the hands of Australia's Samantha Stosur as she continued her head-to-head dominance over Chinese star Li Na.
The 10th-seeded Australian was able to manipulate the ball in the often-gusty wind and further trouble the French Open champion with her powerful serve, defeating sixth-seeded Li 6-2, 6-4 in third-round play on Thursday.
"You can use the wind to get more jump and more angle," Stosur said. "She feels unsettled, and I know that stepping up to the line. It's not like I love playing in the wind, but I think I have a bit more margin on my shots and I can hit with a bit more spin and keep it close to the line."
While many players on the WTA Tour have struggled to solve China's powerful player, world No. 11 Stosur has had great success against her. Li, No. 6 in the world, hasn't won a single set against Stosur in four meetings dating to 2007, including a WTA semi-final in Rome last May.
"Our games match up quite well against one another, and every time I've played her, I have been able to play to a standard that makes it hard for her to get into the match," said Stosur, who is the same size as Li at 5 feet 7 inches and 143 pounds.
"She's a clean ball-striker, and maybe with my spin and the way it jumps off the court, she doesn't like that so much."
Li, 29, said she felt a little out of sorts on Thursday, stepping on to the court for the first time since Wimbledon. This was Li's first-hard court event of the summer. Her lengthy break was extended further by a first-round bye this week, followed by a walkover to the round of 16 when compatriot Peng Shuai withdrew before their second-round match with a hip injury.
"I didn't know what I should do on the court, not like during the clay court season," said Li, 29. "I was feeling like a junior on the court."
Stosur pushed Li to 12 break points. Li staved off nine of them, but was broken three costly times. But it was the 27-year-old Australian's powerful serve, spinning and kicking, that seemed to trouble Na the most.
"Everyone can see she has a huge, big serve, not normal like a girl serve – it bounced even higher. It's tough for me to return," Li said. "Also, today it was so windy, I couldn't use my serve a lot."
Li double-faulted five times. Stosur won 76 per cent of her first-serve points and didn't have her serve broken all match.
It was the second straight-sets victory in a row for Stosur, who cruised past Canadian Alexandra Wozniak on Wednesday 6-3 6-4.
Stosur, perhaps best known as a French Open finalist in 2010, is enjoying a run in Toronto after lacklustre showings in her past two tournaments. She was ousted in her first match in Stanford, Calif., by Germany's Sabine Lisicki after having a first-round bye. She also dropped her opener at Wimbledon to No. 262 Melinda Czink of Hungary.
Next up for the Aussie is a quarter-final match against Roberta Vinci of Italy, who is perhaps the tournament's biggest upset specialist so far. Unseeded Vinci bounced world No. 1 and reigning Rogers Cup champion Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday 6-4, 7-5, and then ousted No. 16 Ana Ivanovic on Thursday, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Stosur hasn't won a tournament since Charleston in 2010.