UPDATE 9.15pm: Australia’s Sam Stosur has slumped to a straight-sets first-round defeat to Swede Sofia Arvidsson at the Brisbane International on New Year’s Eve.
In a terrible blow to her Australian Open preparations, an off-key Stosur crashed 7-6(4) 7-5 to Swede Sofia Arvidsson to be the second top-10 star upset on Pat Rafter Arena on Monday.
The Queenslander followed former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Ksenia Pervak, out of the tournament in a disappointing 1h and 44min display.
Underdone heading into the 2013 season following a minor ankle operation five weeks ago, Stosur moved freely but her groundstrokes were rusty and judgment off.
While she showed plenty of fight to save five first-set points, the world No.9 leaked 48 unforced errors, including seven double faults.
Stosur had enjoyed a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over world No.41 Arvidsson and had swept the tall Swede aside in the first round of her 2011 US Open triumph.
However, the writing was on the wall in the seventh game as she lost her serve with a string of poor groundstrokes.
The 28-year-old seemed to produced her best when it most mattered – breaking Arvidsson twice when she served for the set – but paid for her inconsistency.
She did her best to hang in in the second set, as Arvidsson held serve with ease, before producing a forgettable last service game to fall on her sword.
Stosur’s inability to cope with local expectations has been well documented and the loss continues a poor run at her “home” tournament where she’s never progressed past the second round.
It will heap even more pressure on her as she only has the Sydney International to fine-tune her game for the Australian Open.
Last summer, as the reigning US Open champion, she only mustered one win Down Under for the summer, beating little-known Belarusian Anastasia Yakimova in Brisbane before crashing in Sydney and at Melbourne Park.