Charleston: Samantha Stosur underlined her credentials for next month's French Open by crushing Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-0 6-3 in Sunday's final of the Family Circle Cup to claim her second WTA Tour title.
With her forehand in scintillating form, the fourth-seeded Australian delivered a ruthless display on the green claycourt surface at Daniel Island to win her fifth successive match against the Russian.
World number 11 Stosur, who reached the semi-finals of the elite Indian Wells tournament last month, broke her opponent three times in dazzling sunshine to sweep through the opening set in 18 minutes.
Trailing 0-3 and 15-40 on serve in the second, seventh-seeded Zvonareva won her first game of the match after repeatedly smashing her racket to the ground in frustration.
Although Stosur was surprisingly broken in the seventh when her backhand sailed wide, she immediately broke back for 5-3 before serving out for the title.
The 26-year-old, a renowned doubles player, raised both arms above her head in celebration after sealing victory with a forehand winner before acknowledging the cheers from the stadium court crowd.
"To be able to do that through the whole two sets and not really let up was a great feeling," a beaming Stosur said in a television interview after being presented with the tournament's crystal trophy.
"It's always great to be able to play well in any match but to do it in a final where there's lots of pressure and you want to win that extra little bit more is really, really great."
The Australian, wearing a wristband embellished with the words "attitude" and "composure", struck 36 winners against Zvonareva and made just 11 unforced errors.
Stosur, who clinched her first WTA title in Osaka last year and has also piled up 22 women's doubles crowns on the circuit, was excited about her claycourt form ahead of the French Open.
"Having made the (French Open) semis last year and after this week, I am feeling great on the clay," said Stosur who reached the last four in a grand slam event for the first time at Roland Garros.
"I have played five consistently good matches here so going into Roland Garros I am going to be ready to go and definitely trying to at least repeat last year."
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