Sam Stosur has extended her outstanding singles career by one more match after launching an inspired fightback to beat Robin Anderson in three sets at the Australian Open.
Stosur announced last month she would play her final singles tournament at the Open, the decision bringing down the curtain on one of the most admired careers in the history of Australian tennis.
It appeared today would mark her farewell when she lost the first set against the American wildcard, but she stormed back to eventually win 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 30 minutes.
Not surprisingly, it proved to be a popular victory, with the crowd inside Kia Arena warmly applauding the 37-year-old, who will play Russian 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.
"The focus all along since I knew this was going to be my last event, was to play how I want to play, go out and enjoy it and pretty much do what I did today," Stosur told her post-match media conference.
"It was good fun."
Stosur said knowing she could have been playing her final singles match made it "easier" to cope with the pressure she put on herself.
"It's kind of like this is your last chance, if you don't do it now you're never going to have another opportunity to do it," she said.
"It's kind of like [you're] back is against the wall, this is it."
Stosur was granted a wildcard into the women's main draw, with her singles ranking having slipped to 487.
The former world number four adopted an attacking mindset immediately, putting pressure on her opponent's serve in the opening game of the match.
Her forehand helped her secure three break points, but the American eventually won her service game, albeit nervously.
Stosur then found herself under the pump, however, as she was broken in the following game. The 169th-ranked Anderson then held and, after 11 minutes on court, she had established a 3-0 lead in the first set.
Importantly for the Australian, she did not lose her nerve at this point and, after holding in her next two service games, she broke back in the seventh, before levelling at 4-4.
At 5-6, Stosur fought back from a set point down to hold serve and force a tiebreak, but Anderson proved to strong to gain the early advantage.
Stosur storms back
To the credit of Stosur, she showed no signs of being fazed, which was illustrated when she broke Anderson to lead 2-0 in the second set.
She served for the set at 5-3 in what proved to be a marathon ninth game, with Anderson earning four break points.
Stosur saved each, before enjoying five set points. She converted on the fifth with an ace, pumping her fist and screaming out to the crowd as she celebrated levelling the match.
Both players endured a topsy-turvy start to the third set, with Stosur breaking to lead 2-1, before Anderson responded with a service break of her own.
But the decisive moment of the third came in the fifth game when Anderson went long with a backhand return to hand over another break to Stosur.
With the support of her home crowd ringing in her ears, Stosur did not need an invitation to close out the match. She held in her next two service games, before snaring another break in the ninth game to clinch a well-deserved victory.
When the curtain finally falls for Stosur, her singles career will be fondly remembered, with her defeat of Serena Williams in the 2011 US Open final the highlight.
It broke a 31-year major singles drought for Australian women and followed her appearance in the 2010 French Open final, where she was runner-up to Francesca Schiavone.
It must be acknowledged the Australian Open has never a happy hunting ground when it came to singles for Stosur, with fourth-round appearances in 2006 and 2010 her best performances.
Stosur will continue playing doubles in 2022 and it is not a stretch of the imagination to suggest she may add another major to her tally in that form of the game, given she won last year's US Open alongside Zhang Shuai.
She has won four major doubles titles and she has claimed three mixed doubles crowns.
