Tennis: Stosur played like a man - opponent

Australian Samantha Stosur advanced to the French Open semifinals today after a straight sets win over Dominika Cibulkova who after the match claimed her opponent was hard to beat because she "played like a man".

Stosur cruised to her third French open semifinal after a 6-4, 6-1 victory this morning.

No. 15 seed Cibulkova said in the post-match press conference that the Australian's fitness and man-like play drove her crazy, ESPN reports.

"I have to say that she played unbelievably today," Cibulkova said. "Her topspin and her serve, I mean, she played like a man, and it's really hard to play against a man. It was driving me crazy on the court today. As a player, she's very fit. I'm not saying anything bad. I'm just saying she's playing like a man.

"I mean nobody has a serve like her. She's kicking the serve so much so she gets me out of the court, and her topspin from the forehand, nobody is playing topspin like her. It's more men's style, so it's what I meant."

Stosur's match against Cibulkova was pretty much drama free, save a minor blip in the second set when, trailing 1-0, she faced three break points at love-40. But she won 13 of the next 14 points to take control and wound up winning the match's last six games. Stosur made only four unforced errors in the second set.

Stosur was the French Open runner-up to Francesca Schiavone in 2010 and made the semifinals in 2009.

The sixth-seeded Aussie will play No. 21 Sara Errani of Italy, who made her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber.

Stosur leads the series 5-0, including a 6-3, 7-5 victory earlier this year on clay in Rome.

- AP/HERALD ONLINE