• Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

Stosur storms through in Stuttgart

Sam Stosur was in fine form in Stuttgart © Getty Images

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Sam Stosur produced a sumptuous display to breeze past Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

The Australian has shown some of her best form on clay, she reached the final of the French Open in 2010, and produced arguably her best performance of the season in taking care of Martinez Sanchez.

Spaniard Martinez Sanchez held her own in the first set, battling back from an early break, as she mixed up her play. She moved Stosur forward and back and for a time in took her opponent some time to get to grips with the challenge, but she secured a second break in the 12th game to take the opening set.

Securing the opening set appeared to fill Stosur with confidence and she opened her shoulders on both wings. Winners flew off both the backhand and forehand side and she was able to read Martinez Sanchez's intentions at will.

Faced with a dominant Stosur powering the ball from the back of the court, Martinez Sanchez crumbled on serve and her first serve percentage fell below 30%. It allowed Stosur to run through seven games on the spin, before Martinez Sanchez stopped the rot when serving to save the match at 0-5.

She avoided the embarrassment of a bagel, but it proved only a brief respite as Stosur held serve to close out a 7-5 6-1 win.

Julia Goerges was another player to win in impressive fashion with the German easing to a 6-3 6-1 win over Michaella Krajicek, while Daniela Hantuchova saw off Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5 6-3.

Sabine Lisicki overcame a case of the jitters towards the end of the second set to secure a 7-5 7-6(2) win over Dominika Cibulkova. The German looked set to triumph in comfortable fashion, but surrendered her serve when serving for the match and was forced to claim victory in a tiebreak.

The crowd in Stuttgart were denied a grandstand finish as Anna Chakvetadze was forced to retire against Zuzana Kucova with the match level at 4-4 in the final set.

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