Stosur compares Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships field to late rounds of grand slam

Australian hopeful of improving on her modest record at tournament

Samantha Stosur says the quality of the field at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is comparable to the later rounds of a grand slam tournament. Andy Wong / AP Photo

DUBAI // Samantha Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, is hoping to improve on her modest record at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week, but she concedes it will not be easy given the quality of the field here.

Fifteen of the world’s top 20 women will be in action at the Aviation Club this week, with some exciting first-round duels on the cards when the tournament begins on Monday.

Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki, winner here in 2011, will start her campaign against world No 15 Sabine Lisicki, the losing finalist at Wimbledon last year. Ana Ivanovic, another former No 1, will clash with world No 9 Angelique Kerber to set up a potential second-round match against wild-card Venus Williams, who opens against Elena Vesnina.

American youngster Sloane Stephens will start against the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova, who reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open last month.

“This tournament is always very well supported by all the top players, so it’s tough to win,” said Stosur, a three-time quarter-finalist here, who will meet a qualifier in the first round. “It’s like playing somewhere from the fourth round onwards in a grand slam.

“I guess everyone is trying to get through and play as best as they can right from the first round, so it’s going to be tough. There’s very, many good players here and I don’t think there’s any easy matches.

“So right from the first round, you have to be playing very well to get through, and I guess to win this tournament you are going to be playing some great players along the way.”

The tournament’s top four seeds – Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, the defending champion Petra Kvitova and Sara Errani – have received first-round byes and will not be in action until Wednesday.