World number 13 Sam Stosur has sent a message to her WTA rivals ahead of the 2010 season by claiming, "I can beat anyone out there".
Australian harbours top 10 hope ahead of new campaign
World number 13 Sam Stosur has sent a message to her WTA rivals ahead of the 2010 season by claiming, "I can beat anyone out there".
The Australian will kick off her charge towards a top 10 ranking at the Sydney International on January 10 before the Australian Open gets underway the following week.
Queenslander Stosur is unseeded at the Sydney event, which features nine of the world's top 10 players.
"Yeah nine out of the top 10, you can't really get much stronger than that," Stosur told reporters at Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday.
Stosur, a beaten finalist at the Sydney International in 2005, lost to Serena Williams in a tight three-setter in the first round of last year's event.
The 25-year-old claimed her maiden WTA title win in Osaka in October, and has the self-belief that she can achieve further silverware in this coming season.
Awesome
"I'm really glad I can put that one away now and try to get some more," she said.
"On any given day I can beat anyone out there. I've had really good wins this year and been able to back them up.
"I've set myself up better going into the next year than what I ever have before. I'd really love to get to top 10 and that's certainly my goal for the start of the year.
"I've made the (Sydney) final one time before, losing to Alicia Molik. If I could win a title here in Australia then that would be awesome and Sydney will be my first chance in 2010."
Australian No.1 Stosur is happy to be the flag-bearer for Australian women's tennis and says others will soon join herself, Jelena Dokic (No.56) and former Russian Anastasia Rodionova (No.96) as Australians in the top 100.
"We're certainly setting ourselves up to have quite a few players in the top 100," Stosur said.
"If I could start leading that charge by winning some more tournaments, I'd like to take that role."
