Stosur soars into Strasbourg semis

Strasbourg, France, 25 May 2017 | Darren Walton, AAP

Sam Stosur has continued her promising French Open build-up by advancing to her first semifinal since reaching the last four in Paris for a fourth time last year.

Stosur hammered nine aces en route to a 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over fourth seed Carla Suarez Navarro in Strasbourg on Thursday.

.@bambamsam30 is first through to @WTA_Strasbourg Semifinals!

Downs Suárez Navarro 7-6(5), 6-4! pic.twitter.com/EWlMWhOg2O

— WTA (@WTA) May 25, 2017

A champion in the 2015 edition of the tournament, sixth-seeded Stosur will in the semifinals play China’s eighth seed Peng Shuai, who overwhelmed American Shelby Rogers in the last match of the day on Thursday.

With Daria Gavrilova and Ashleigh Barty squaring off in the quarterfinals later on Thursday – a match Gavrilova won in three thrilling sets – three Australian women made the last eight of a WTA event for the first time since Rachel McQuillan, Anne Minter and Kristin Godridge in Moscow in 1990.

Stosur said she was delighted to be into her first semi since making the last four in Paris last year for a fourth time.

Beating an opponent ranked No.6 in the world last year and a two-time French Open quarterfinalist made the 2010 Roland Garros runner-up’s victory even sweeter.

“What’s not to be happy about? Three wins, I’m playing very well and today was a really good challenge,” Stosur said.

“Someone like Carla, she can play very deep in the court and make you hit a lot of balls.

“By the end, she was trying to move forward and rush me a bit more and so you have to be aware of what’s going on and what she’s doing and try and adapt accordingly.

“As the match went on, I think I got better and better.”