With the current suspension of the ATP and WTA Tours, we are opening up our US Open vault to bring you full match videos of classic encounters through the years in New York.
Watch on YouTube: Sam Stosur vs. Serena Williams, 2011 US Open women's singles final
Serena Williams was seeking her 14th Grand Slam singles title at the 2011 US Open; Sam Stosur, her first. The American was competing in her 17th major final; the Aussie, her second.
Williams had missed nearly a full year of competitive action between 2010-11, first due to a foot injury suffered shortly after Wimbledon, and later because of a pulmonary embolism and hematoma, which required hospitalization. She returned just before Wimbledon in 2011, where she reached Round 4 in her second tournament back.
The now-23-time Grand Slam singles champ found her form in the North American hard-court swing that summer, winning back-to-back titles at the Bank of the West Classic and Rogers Cup—where she defeated Stosur in a straight-sets final. Williams then notched an opening-round win in Cincinnati, before withdrawing ahead of a scheduled rematch with Stosur due to a toe injury.
Williams entered the 2011 US Open on a 12-match winning streak, and her run to the final brought that tally up to 18. Seeded No. 28 via a protected ranking, she reached the championship match without dropping a set, defeating Victoria Azarenka (Round 3), Ana Ivanovic (Round of 16) and world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki (semis) along the way.
Stosur, the No. 9 seed, battled her way into the final by winning three three-setters in four matches, the lone straight-sets victory in that stretch coming in the quarters against No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva. She went the distance against 2016 US Open champ Angelique Kerber, who was unseeded in 2011, in the semis.
Then 27, Stosur became the first Australian woman to win the US Open since Margaret Court in 1973, and the first Aussie woman to win any Slam since Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 1980. She managed to break the Williams serve five times in nine opportunities en route to the title.
The complete final is now available to watch on the US Open YouTube channel. For a coming attraction, view the match highlights below.
