Serena dumps Stosur in Miami; avenges US Open final loss

Last summer, former #1 player and 13-time Grand Slam champion went into the US Open finals as the heavy favorite to win her 14th Grand Slam title against Australia's Samantha Stosur. Serena was the best player in the hard-court season winning 2 consecutive titles and held a huge advantage in Grand Slam finals experience over Stosur who has never won a Grand Slam by then. She also beat then #1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. The finals was a stunner, considered by many as a huge upset - Stosur played near perfect tennis in doing the almost impossible - overwhelming Serena at a hard court major, in the US, in straight sets, with Serena coming in at peak form.

It's been six months before another rematch in a similar environment could materialize - a top hard-court US tournament, but this time around, it was Serena who bundled the Australian out of the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 with brilliant shot-making in a 7-5 6-3 victory. Serena is a 5-time champion at the Miami tennis tournament, and with her fourth round victory over Stosur, she now advances for the 11th time to the quarterfinals of this tournament. It was the best match played during the day session, which posted an attendance record for a Monday with 15,491 visitors.

Serena, seeded 10th in this tournament, is aiming to win her 40th career title. Amongst active players, she is currently ranked third with sister Venus (43 titles), and Kim Clijsters (41 titles) ahead of her. Her previous title came at Stanford last year. She has played two tournaments after that win, both in the Grand Slams where she fell in the finals of the US Open and the fourth round of the Australian Open. She will now attempt to move to the semifinals to be two wins away from winning a record 6 Miami tennis tournament titles. With the win, Serena improved her record against Stosur to 5-3. Serena's opponent in the quarterfinals will be the winner of the fourth round match between fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki and # 23 seed Yanina Wickmayer. Earlier in the tournament, Wickmayer eliminated fellow Belgian Clijsters to prevent a Serena - Clijsters showdown.

Serena Williams quotes after the match: "I thought it was a super high quality match... I think we both went really, really for our shots, and she hit little to no errors. It was a really well-fought match... Every match for me is a joy to win... Every time I go out there and win it's good for me. I like it and I enjoy it. It makes me really happy."