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Stosur faces battle against Henin

Sam Stosur's coach says she must play the match of her life if she is to topple Justine Henin in their French Open fourth round match later tonight.

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3 min read

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Source: AAP


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Sam Stosur's coach says she must play the match of her life if she is to topple Justine Henin in their French Open fourth round match later tonight.

Dave Taylor said the predicted cool conditions wouldn't aid his charge but still felt she was up to halting Henin's Roland Garros winning streak at 24.

"If Sam wins, it is the biggest win of her career, no doubt," he said.

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"If she wins, she is a great chance to keep progressing in the tournament.

"There is definitely a lot of anticipation for the match around the locker rooms.

"And a lot of people feel Sam can win but Sam needs to feel that as well."

Taylor said Stosur had to exploit any flat spots from the four-time champion in their clash on the No.2 showcourt, Court Suzanne Lenglen.

"Inconsistency, in and out of being intense whether that is because she (Henin) has not played a lot or whether it is a big stage and it means a lot to her," he said.

"She is a great player and does not have any holes but sometimes she can miss three or four and that can mean a set lost.

"But Sam has got to go out and win the match and not count on Henin losing the match."

Taylor believed world No.7 Stosur would be able to handle the big occasion of playing Henin in front of her legion of supporters in Paris.

He said she should be inspired by Swedish player Robin Soderling's monumental upset of Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 last year.

"These are the matches where you tend not to be so nervous because you need to play great tennis to win," he said.

"Henin has not lost a match here for six years.

"It will take a great match to beat her, you can be like (Robin) Soderling to (Rafael) Nadal last year.

"She is sort of using that, Soderling had played great tennis coming in (last year) and Sam is 17 of 19 matches, you could not want a better set up for her to play well.

"I think she can cause a big upset but she has to play great."

Australia's other player still standing in the singles, Jarmila Groth, will take on world No.36 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan for a spot in the quarter-finals.


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