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Published: Sunday August 9, 2009 MYT 9:34:00 AM

Tennis: Aussie Stosur advances to Carson final

CARSON, California (AP): Samantha Stosur routed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-2 to reach the final of the LA Women's Tennis Championships in pursuit of her first career singles title.

The 25-year-old Australian has won 22 career doubles titles, achieved the No. 1 ranking in doubles and earned two Grand Slam mixed titles.

She's enjoying a strong start to the summer hardcourt season, having reached the semifinals last week at Stanford with a three-set win over Serena Williams.

Stosur will seek to end her status as perennial runner-up in Sunday's final, where she will play either Maria Sharapova or 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who met in a night semifinal.

Stosur has lost in four career singles finals, including one last year in Seoul. A victory Sunday could lift her into the top 15 for the first time from her current ranking of 19th.

Stosur lost just four points on her serve in the first set, earning the only break in the second game.

She won 81 percent of her total service points in the 62-minute match. Stosur served three of her seven aces in the second game of the second set. She then led 2-1 after breaking Cirstea, who committed 25 unforced errors in the match.

She went up 4-1 with another service break and closed out the match when Cirstea pulled a backhand service return wide.

Cirstea, a 19-year-old Romanian, was bothered by pain from plantar fasciitis in her right foot, the same problem she had in Friday's three-set win over Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

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