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Stosur's Melbourne misery

Home favourite Sam Stosur was the first major casualty at the Australian Open © Getty Images

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Sam Stosur has never enjoyed playing in Melbourne, but the world No. 5 suffered one of the most humiliating defeats of her career as she became the first major casualty at the Australian Open.

Stosur, who won her maiden slam at the US Open last year, looked a shadow of the player who swept aside Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows.

A lot can happen in four months, but since that victory in New York, Stosur has hardly set the tennis world alight, suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of Maria Kirilenko. She reached the final in Osaka before a solid semi-final showing at the WTA Championships, but fell early in Brisbane and Sydney and came to Melbourne with just one win from her last five matches.

Not exactly the form of a major winner, but we have come to expect that kind of hangover from new champions. After becoming Asia's first grand slam champion at the French Open, Li Na failed to notch back-to-back victories in four tournaments before falling in the opening round of the US Open to Romania's Simona Halep.

Likewise, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, widely acclaimed to be a future world No. 1, failed to make it past the first round at Flushing Meadows, losing to Halep's compatriot Alexandra Dulgheru.

In a strange coincidence, Stosur who won the final major of 2011, was upset by another Romanian. Stosur looked visibly shaken as Cirstea's huge groundstrokes and aggressive tennis left the Australian on the end of five defeats in her last six matches.

"We all saw what happened last year and now I've kind of gone through that same trend," Stosur admitted in her press conference after being asked about a post-major hangover. "I don't know why. Part of it is just that heightened expectation of wanting to do well... I don't know why it seems to be happening more often than not right now. I'm sure if we could all change the way we've responded straight after winning a grand slam, we would have."

Can Sam Stosur rediscover the form that saw her win the US Open? © Getty Images

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The pressure that comes with arriving at a grand slam as a major champion is one thing, but as Andy Murray will attest, playing in front of a home crowd is another. Having seen fellow Aussie Bernard Tomic stage an extraordinary comeback to beat Fernando Verdasco on Monday, the pressure was on Stosur to join Tomic in the second round.

With a game well-suited to the hard courts, Stosur has the game to succeed in Melbourne, but has never made it past the fourth round. Arguably her best result at Melbourne Park was back in 2003, when, ranked at No. 244 in the world, she upset No. 31 seed Conchita Martinez in the first round before eventually falling to seventh seed Daniela Hantuchova in the third.

In 2006, she fell in the fourth round to five-time grand slam champion Martina Hingis, and the following year she was upset in the second round by Jelena Tosic. While Melbourne has never been a particularly happy hunting ground for Stosur, it is seven years since she failed to make it past the first round.

"I really, really wanted to do well here and over the summer," she said. "I did everything I could to try and give myself a good opportunity. It obviously didn't happen. I think it's one of those things, of course I know what's out there, but at the end of the day it's what I think, the way I know I can play, the way I think I'm capable of playing.

"It's disappointing for sure. I know that everyone was behind me. It's more disappointing obviously that I don't get another chance to step out on court."

While some players use their first grand slam title as a springboard to further glory, other players are only destined to win one slam. Stosur undoubtedly has the talent to add to her major tally, but until she can cope with the heightened pressure that comes with being a grand slam champion, repeating her heroics in New York will remain a distant dream.

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