Another disconcerting defeat has not stopped Samantha Stosur from becoming Australia's highest-ranked women's tennis player in a quarter of a century.
Stosur climbed one position to number four in the world on Monday, despite squandering another winning lead in her 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) loss to Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals of the WTA event in Dubai.No Australian-born player has reached fourth in the WTA standings since Wendy Turnbull in 1985.
But rather than celebrate her lofty position, Stosur will be intent on reversing a run of tight losses to avoid a rankings freefall over the coming months.
The 26-year-old French Open runner-up led Jankovic 3-0, 4-1 and 5-3 in the deciding set in Dubai before once again failing to close out the contest.
Stosur also wasted winning chances against Italians Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in Australia's Fed Cup quarter-final defeat in Hobart this month and also lost close encounters last month to Svetlana Kuznetsova in Sydney and to Petra Kvitova at the Australian Open.
The pressure is now on Stosur to raise her game and defend a mountain of rankings points accrued during last year's claycourt season.
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