Samantha Stosur Wins La Costa Women's Tennis Tournament

Samantha Stosur defeated top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 6-3, in Sunday's final of the $795,707 Southern California Open women's tennis tournament at La Costa Resort and Spa, her first victory in their nine career meetings.

Stosur initially had not planned to play in the tournament, but changed her plans after losing her first match in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford July 23.

"I had planned just to go to Stanford, then take a week off and head back to my training base in Florida,'' the Australian said on Monday. "I was going to practice for a week before heading to Toronto and Cincinnati. But after not doing as well as I wanted to in Stanford, I thought coming here would be another good opportunity to play those matches and try to build on something this week.''

Because of her late decision to play, Stosur was a wild card entry into the 28-player draw. She was seeded fifth and went on to win all five of her matches, losing one set, for her fourth victory in a Women's Tennis Association tournament and first since the 2011 U.S. Open.

"I haven't had great results all year really, so to be able to bounce back, especially from last week's loss and play better and better each day, it's really exciting and a good boost going into the last Grand Slam tournament of the year,'' said Stosur, who received $125,000 for the victory.

Azarenka, of Belarus, will receive $68,200 for being runner-up in her first tournament since withdrawing from Wimbledon due to a knee injury. "I just felt like I was fighting and trying to do the same thing that wasn't working today,'' Azarenka said. "I kept doing the same idea and that wasn't very smart for me to do.''

–City News Service