Sam Slams It In Charleston

I hear there is tennis going on in the world that is not in Monte Carlo and does not involve anyone named Rafa or Nole or Daveeeeeeeeeed. You might have heard of it, though I really don't give it as much screen time as I ought. It's called 'women's tennis'.

In all the excitement of Rafa on clay and Murray failing miserably, I just about forgot the ladies existed this week. And this meant that - as she is often wont to do when no one is watching - Sam Stosur is through to the semis in Charleston.

It's very popular to go on and on and on about how Australian tennis players are rubbish on clay, but I don't think the sitch is as dire as it is often made out to be. Our #2 dude, Peter Luczak, is essentially a claycourt specialist, and Sam Stosur? Well, there was that whole bit where she made the semis at Roland Garros last year. And oh look, here we are in Charleston on the red stuff, and Slammin' Sammy has slammed her way into the semis again.

I think a lot of Sam's weapons, particularly her serve, are accentuated on clay. It's not un-Rafalike, the monstrous kick she can get on her kick serve when she serves it right on the clay. And that serve is hard enough to play at the best of times.

I would not be at all surprised if Sam went on to win this tournament - though I'm not going to go and predict it or anything, because we all know Sam does her best work when no one's looking. She looked great in her quarter final match against Shuai Peng and I'm really excited to see how Sam slams it this year on the clay.