Stosur shocker tops night of surprises in Doha

Doha: Samantha Stosur`s win over world number one Caroline Wozniacki was not the only surprise for an unsuspecting crowd at the WTA Championships, where music, dance and even a frightened feline vied with the tennis for attention.

An uninspiring opening match between Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka on Wednesday took a bizarre turn at the second change of ends when a breakdancing trio began `busting moves` on court at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. A solo saxophone player serenaded the crowd during the Kim Clijsters v Jelena Jankovic match, and then a curious cat padded onto the purple-coloured court to hold up Wozniacki`s game against Stosur. The scaredy-cat scampered under the hoardings at the side of the court before making its escape. Stosur, who opened her Maroon Group campaign at the $4.55 million tournament with a straight sets win over Francesca Shiavone, said her indifferent from coming into Doha had been a cause for concern. "I guess when you haven`t been playing so well leading up to a big event, there`s maybe that a little bit of doubt," the Australian told a media conference. "(But) I had always been practising well and doing all the right things. I was hopeful that it would turn around soon."With Wozniacki needing just one more win to seal the year-end world number one spot, few gave Stosur much hope of causing an upset in the Qatari capital. However, the 26-year-old gave Wozniacki a taste of her own baseline medicine, attacking her weaker forehand and sending scorching winners past the startled Dane to record a 6-4 6-3 win. "Against someone like her I have to go after the points and try and hit winners. Sometimes by doing that you do hit more errors," added Stosur. "I think I was okay with that going into the match, that if I was making some mistakes it didn`t matter because I probably would hit more winners.” "I guess it`s a fine line between doing enough and going too crazy and doing too much." With the win Stosur has all but sealed her place in the semi-finals of the prestigious season-ending tournament but will round out the group stage against Elena Dementieva on Thursday.Wozniacki faces Schiavone, while in the White Group Kim Clijsters plays Victoria Azarenka. Bureau League