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Sam Stosur's Loss To An Unknown Player From Guernsey Was Very Sam Stosur

Yup.
Uh-huh.
Clive Brunskill via Getty Images
Uh-huh.

Well that was just so Sam Stosurish. She gave you hope. She made you care. She made you believe. But in the end, Sam Stosur was soundly beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 by British player Heather Watson in the first round of the Australian Open.

And that's that. Her Australian Open is over. Again. Just like that. The 32-year-old former U.S. Open champ didn't "bow out", as the tennis writers like to say. Nor was she "bundled out" like yesterday's dry cleaning. She just lost.

Sigh.

This was a pretty close-fought match for most of the first two sets. Then in the third set, a rare condition -- endemic to just one person in the world -- set in. That condition is Samstosuritis, and it is more debilitating than the worst man flu.

When Samstosuritis sets in, it doesn't matter if you're a seeded player facing the world number 81 player from Guernsey. Guernsey, for goodness sake. An island most famous for an eponymous piece of apparel.

Nor does it matter if a cheers quad of seasoned tennis journalists have lined up to write pieces in praise of you, and your great underappreciatedness.

The thing about Stosur is she has such an armory of weapons. She hit 35 winners in this match to Watson's 21 and won more points at the net. Her first serve was also much more consistent than Watson's. These are all signs of a dangerous, complete player.

But Stosur converted fewer break points and committed 47 unforced errors to her opponent's 23, and therein lies the tale of the match.

Heather Watson was having such a good time beating Sam Stosur, she broke into a smile.
Clive Brunskill via Getty Images
Heather Watson was having such a good time beating Sam Stosur, she broke into a smile.

Sam Stosur has been a very good player for a long, long time. But there's no denying she has been a disappointment for fans at her home Open, a tournament she has now played 15 times without ever progressing as far as the quarter finals.

And Heather Watson, her conquerer?

At her last tournament, in Hong Kong, she was eliminated in the second round. Before that, she lost in qualifying in China. Another first round loss before that, also in China, and a first round loss at the U.S. Open before that. You get the picture.

And this is the player who beat Sam Stosur, who The Australian called a "neglected national treasure" two days ago. That is all.

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