Puig holds off Stosur to win at Aussie Open

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Samantha Stosur was added to the list of disappointments at the Australian Open Monday.

Monica Puig brought together some serious aggression and skill that allowed her to bring a third set and take it 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park. The Puerto Rican who had dealt with an injury in her hand for so long put together a thrilling win to begin her season off right.

This was the sixth meeting for the two players with  two years separating them. The Aussie took a tough loss at Sydney against countrywoman Daria Gavrilova this week. With things still giving her confidence being on home soil, she would no doubt give Puig trouble from start to finish. The Puerto Rican hasn’t been at her best since the Olympics and with the recent troubles of her country, the 24-year-old hoped that she could put on a good run at the Australian Open with positivity coming her way.

She held her ground during two service holds but the Australian had a lot more reasons to better that of Puig’s game. She proved her point in the fifth winning the first break of the match taking the lead. The 33-year-old consolidated that with a service hold in the sixth doubling her margin against the Puerto Rican. Puig struck back to get back within a game but Stosur was on a mission to finish the set strong. She broke Puig in the ninth for a shot at serving the set which she finished with a fourth ace that put her a set up after 32 minutes. The Aussie was on lock winning 19 of 22 on the first serve and 88 percent success overall.

While Stosur kept a good pace of her game, the Puerto Rican tried to keep competitive with her in order to challenge far beyond what she accomplished in the first. Unfortunately, she was stopped by Stosur who held a break in the fifth to take the lead again. She pushed to a fourth where it looked as if the Australian would find the easy way of winning the day. Puig had other ideas as she battled the aces from Stosur continuing to fight on. She found herself tied at four all putting in a lot of work to get the breaks on Stosur.

She got the lead in the ninth that had her looking great to take things to three sets. Stosur answered with a victory that leveled the score and moved it toward an ultimate winner in the set. It turned out that 12 games weren’t enough as Stosur matched what Puig brought to the table and that a tiebreak was necessary. The Puerto Rican put the pedal to the metal taking a 4-1 rout of the Australian with three left to win the set. Stosur captured a point bringing an end to Puig’s streak and picked up two more covering ground.

When she leveled with Puig, every point became so important to both players as it was close to a conclusion. It came to two unforced errors that gave Puig the lead in the tiebreak and the set win that clinched Puig’s chance to stay in the tournament and a second try for Stosur to hold her off.

Things were very tight through the first six games with Stosur and Puig deadlocked. When the set came closer to its end, it was Puig who began to get out front putting her energy into being in control. By the eighth, she had a two-game lead sitting one from winning the match.  Stosur denied the Puerto Rican in the ninth where she held firm on serve and looked to force further chances. Puig wouldn’t have any more games played as she put together a strong tenth game on serve holding Stosur to win double match point and end the 2 hours and 20-minute span.

“I knew that things were tight and I just had to continue playing my game and continue to be aggressive and come back in some way,” Puig said during her on court interview. Despite serving 52 percent, Puig managed to score more than 70 percent of the time which left to her hang on and prevent too many errors near the finish. She gave herself a second chance to turn part of her game around as she’ll take on Kaia Kanepi in the second round on Wednesday.