Stosur triumphs; rain halts play at US Open

NEW YORK: Back at the site of her greatest victory, Samantha Stosur looked like a champion again, not the player who has often struggled this year.
The Australian began the defense of her US Open title Monday with a dominant win, needing 51 minutes to beat 64th-ranked Petra Martic 6-1, 6-1 in the tournament’s first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium before rain suspended play.
The last time Stosur played on this court, she stunned Serena Williams in the 2011 final at Flushing Meadows for her first Grand Slam title. But in so many ways, that 6-2, 6-3 victory was starting to feel as if it happened much more than a year ago.
In 2012, Stosur had lost in the first round in front of the home fans at the Australian Open. She lost in the second round at Wimbledon, then again in the first round at the London Olympics.
Sandwiched in between, she made a run to the semifinals of the French Open, but fell apart by committing 21 unforced errors in the third set of her loss to Sara Errani.
Despite her status as defending champion, Stosur, seeded seventh this year, is not considered one of the favorites coming into Flushing Meadows.
British sports books have her listed at 28-1 to repeat, same as Venus Williams, who has a 1-2 record in Grand Slams in 2012, and behind No. 4 seed Serena Williams, No. 3 Maria Sharapova, No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and four others.
On Monday against Martic, who withdrew from the Olympics with a left foot injury, Stosur had 22 winners and 10 aces and didn’t face any break points.
Other players starting Monday include third-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, coming off his Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics. He faces Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia. Top-seeded Roger Federer plays American Donald Young in the night session.
Also playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium are No. 3 Maria Sharapova, against Melinda Czink of Hungary, and No. 23 Kim Clijsters, opening the final tournament of her career with a first-round match against American Victoria Duval. Clijsters missed last year with an injury, but has won the tournament the past three times she’s entered — in 2005, 2009 and 2010.
The Williams sisters, No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 20 Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, are among those who start later in the week.

Officials confident
no Australian Open boycott
Meantime, Tennis Australia said yesterday it was confident players would not boycott the Australian Open over a pay disagreement, but it was taking the threat seriously.
The Sunday Times of London reported ATP Tour players were considering a boycott of January’s Australian Open in a bid to gain a higher percentage of Grand Slam event revenues for themselves.
Tennis Australia director Craig Tiley said he did not view reports of a threatened boycott by players with alarm, saying he was sure the world’s best players would be in Melbourne for the tournament.
“We’re confident that the players will be in Melbourne in January and we’ll be working through in the coming months to put forward some solution toward compensation,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
At issue is the pay of lower-ranked players who often exit in the first round after making the long journey Down Under.
While they pocket some Aus$20,800 ($21,600 US) for a first round defeat at the Australian Open, some players struggle to make ends meet during the year, as they pay for much of their own expenses and travel.
Without a high profile, they are also unable to score lucrative sponsorship deals that could help sustain their career.
“The problem is that the players that are ranked about 100 and lower are not making sufficient money to support themselves right throughout the year,” Tiley said.
“It’s not necessarily just a Grand Slam problem, it’s an all sport problem and I think the entire sport needs to sit down and help address the issue, because at the lower ranks of our sport the prize money hasn’t changed in 25 years and that’s just not good enough.”
Tiley said it was unfair to target the Australian Grand Slam, which this year offered the largest prize money in Grand Slam tennis with total prizes of Aus$26 million.