Dubai: Former US Open winner Sam Stosur said playing a qualifier in the first round wouldn’t be easy at Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship draw.
This year’s three-round qualification process is highly competitive with eight of the 32 hopefuls ranked below 50th in the world. With names such as last month’s Australian Open semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard and last year’s US Open semi-finalist Flavia Panetta all vying for one of four slots in the first round, Stosur said whoever she faces will be a threat.
“You could be playing someone ranked 19th or 40th [in the world] so either way it’s tough,” said the 29-year-old Australian who won at Flushing Meadows in 2011.
“If you are able to qualify to this tournament then you have got to be playing well to win those three matches. So, whoever it ends up being I’m sure they’ll be prepared, as will I be.”
Asked if she was concerned that her opponent would have already had the opportunity to acclimatise via qualification, the current World No. 16 was indifferent.
“You could look at it like that or you could say they have already had to play three matches and could be pretty tired,” she said.
“Being used to the conditions is always an advantage, so I guess I’m lucky I can be here practising and doing everything I can to prepare for the first round.”
If she does overcome her first round opponent, Stosur could face the likes of Caroline Wozniacki or Sabine Lisicki in the second round, Sara Errani in the quarter-final and Venus Williams or Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
“If you get through the first round you could play Caroline or Sabine, who we know made the Wimbledon final, so that’s going to be a tough one again for whoever wins my match,” she said.
“As it goes on I don’t think it gets any easier so I’ll take it one match at a time. You’ve got to be prepared to play your best tennis from the first round and hopefully you get through some.”
Stosur has reached the quarter-finals here for the past three years and comes off a semi-final finish in Hobart followed by respective third and second round exits in the Australian Open and in Doha.
“I would like to try and go further,” she added. “I like the conditions here and have played well in years passed. I’m playing pretty well so I guess it’s just a matter of putting everything together in matches where it really counts. But so far I’m happy with the way my year has started and hopefully I can build on that as the week continues.”
