Stosur confident of beating Serena in Australian Open

Australia’s world No 13 Samantha Stosur, who is expected to face No 1 Serena Williams, is confident of beating the defending Australian Open champion this time.

Stosur stormed into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a straight-set win over Italian Alberta Brianti. She beat Brianti 6-4 6-1 in just 72 minutes at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday to reach the last 16 at the Open for the second time.

Williams can confirm a Monday match with Stosur with a victory over Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, The Herald Sun reports.

After squandering a series of match points against Williams in Sydney last year, Stosur turned the tables on the World No 1 with a breakthrough victory in Stanford in July.

“We’ve had a couple of close matches the last two times we’ve played and, yeah, I got the last one, so I’m going to ride with that and go into the match feeling pretty confident,” Stosur said.

“I know I’m going to have to play extremely well to try and beat her, and I’m going to give it my best shot, and hopefully I can do well,” she said.

After a scratchy start, Stosur produced a hugely impressive serving display to completely dominate the 73rd-ranked Brianti.

“It’s recently been a bigger goal of mine to try and get a better percentage on my first serve, and today, I did that well and was still going for it and hit a few aces as well,” Stosur said.

“So it makes it easier as well to play out here, that's for sure, when you’re getting a lot of first serves in.”

The French Open semi-finalist, Stosur, has never lost a grand slam match after winning the first set.