Estonian qualifier stuns Stosur

Sam Stosur followed fellow French Open finalist Francesca Schiavone in exiting Wimbledon at the first-round stage.

The 26-year-old Australian, the sixth seed, was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi on Court 12 this afternoon.

Stosur had been tipped as a player who could challenge for the title after her run to the final at Roland Garros, beating Justine Henin and Serena Williams along the way.

But her record at Wimbledon is poor, with a third-round appearance last year her best, and she found world number 80 Kanepi too hot to handle today.

Kanepi, who was the top seed in qualifying at Roehampton last week, has been as high as 18th in the world and she gained some valuable time on grass at Birmingham earlier this month when she reached the quarter-finals.

Stosur looked like she might find a way out of trouble when she saved three match points on her own serve and then forced break points on Kanepi’s, but she could not take them and the 25-year-old qualifier, whose only previous Wimbledon victory came three years ago, held on.