Breaking strings, but not a string of losses - 4/21/2011

Date: 4/21/2011
Result: Stuttgart QF, Sam Stosur def. Vera Zvonareva, 2-6 6-3 7-6
Why it matters:
- Sam needed this one, but it didn't come easily.  Stosur has owned Zvonareva over the last few years, so given her current slump Stosur, needed this one to go her way or she'd really have to acknowledge her struggles.  In the first set, it looked like more of the 2011 Stosur.  She was listless, not holding serve, and just letting Zvonareva out work her.  But Stosur recovered valiantly, and was able to win without her best stuff.  Grinding out a tough win over a top player can only do her good.  But a title in Stuttgart would really spark her early in the clay season.
- Zvonareva's loss isn't so notable.  She lost to a top player on that player's favorite surface, and on a surface where Vera's only been so-so.  But it's the mystery of her broken strings that will stick with viewers.  The willingness of players to change racquets more often on their own and the synthetic strings that players use make broken strings a true rarity, compared to the heyday of players like Sampras.  So to see so many broken strings by Zvonareva makes me wonder what the source was.  Hopefully not the stringer - or you'd wonder why he/she was ever hired.  It's got to be some random, unfortunate combination of Stosur's heavy shots with heavy, clay-coated balls, the indoor conditions (humidity can cause problems with strings), and Zvonareva's racquet and string choice.  The thing is that even casual players know that it can be very unsettling to have your equipment let you down (though usually the equipment is getting blamed for nothing by most players).  Zvonareva really kept her focus better than most through this ordeal, and for someone with her history of breakdowns, fighting to the end is a good sign.

Honorable Mentions:
- Fes R2, Anastasia Pivovarova def. Yaroslava Shvedova - 62 76 - Shvedova was on her way up (peaking at #29 after her Roland Garros QF run) before injury struck, and she's still not found it back.  Pivovarova is young and promising, but there's no reason Shvedova should've lost this.  She needs to figure out what was working for her before.  But her playing schedule isn't working now to help her with her confidence problem.
-Barcelona R3, Nicolas Almagro def. Nikolay Davydenko - 76 63 - Davydenko still can't win any of the tough matches, and that's going to probably keep his ranking so depressed that he'll be a "dangerous floater" at the French.  Someone better beware, because Davydenko may randomly find his form again in Paris and cause something surprising.  Almagro, on the other hand, has been winning most of these tricky ones all year, so it's no wonder he'll make his top 10 debut in next week's rankings.