Stosur rolls on in Los Angeles

Australian Samantha Stosur's impressive return to the court has taken another step at the Los Angeles Open. Stosur moved into the third round of the women's tour event with a tight straight-sets win over Russia's Regina Kulikova. Stosur followed up her shock first-round win over 12th seed Shahar Peer with a 7-6 (6-4) 7-5 result against Kulikova. She will now face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the No.8 seed at the event. Stosur returned to the top 100 in the world rankings this week. It is the first time the Olympics-bound Stosur has been ranked in double digits since making a return from illness. Azarenka set up the third-round showdown with a 6-1 6-3 win over or Chan-Yung-Jan. Others to progress were Russian Dinara Safina, compatriot Nadia Petrova and Flavia Pennetta of Italy. However, Czech star Nicole Vaidisova was crushed... [read full story]