Sam Stosur crashes out of Australian Open in first round at the hands of Monica Puig

IT was a horror case of deja vu for Australia’s Sam Stosur as she exited the Australian Open in the first round at the hands of Monica Puig who held off a match point to stun the home crowd.

Sam Stosur exits the Australian Open in the first round.

IT IS a familiar tale for Sam Stosur, unfortunately.

But the US Open champion refused to be tainted by her third-straight first round Australian Open exit.

“I don’t really think about it,” Stosur said after her 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 loss to Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig.

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“I try and not worry about it. I mean, I think everyone else makes a bigger deal about it than what I do personally.

“But, look, I was one point away. I’d be in the second round if I won one more point.

Unfortunately that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Monica Puig celebrates her win.

Sam Stosur waves goodbye. Picture: Mark Stewart

“I do everything I can to try to have a better result here in Australia. For whatever reason, it just won’t happen for me.

“I’ll come back next year and do it all over again.”

The whispers started the moment Stosur claimed the opening set and only grew louder when the Queenslander went up a break in the second.

But plucky Puerto Rican Puig would not be denied, erasing a 2-4 deficit to force Stosur into a second-set tie-breaker.

Sporting a wristband emblazoned with the words “courage” and “kind”, Stosur displayed both traits to earn a match point opportunity in the breaker after trailing 1-4.

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With the match on the line, Puig forced Stosur to commit two forehand errors which would ultimately bring about the Australian’s undoing.

“I’ve gone over match point about a hundred times already in the last 45 minutes,” Stosur said.

“I think overall I played a pretty good match.

“Again, I was as close as you can get without winning.

“It’s hard to kind of... you don’t want to make more and more out of it.

Sam Stosur congratulates Monica Puig. Picture: Mark Stewart

“If it was literally that difference, then I’d be sitting here probably thinking very differently.”

Meanwhile on Show Court 3, Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska is finally back on the winner’s list at Melbourne Park.

In a battle of broken service games, Rogowska, 26, outlasted compatriot Jaimee Fourlis, 18, to win through to the second round, 6-3 6-7 (7-3) 6-2, for the first time since 2014.

For Rogowska the gritty performance was as much about belonging as it was victory.

“These last couple of months, I’ve been playing some really good tennis and for the first time I feel like I belonged here,” Rogowska told the Herald Sun.

“Though my ranking’s not as high as everyone else, I’ve been playing some really good tennis in practice.

Olivia Rogowska in action against Jaimee Fourlis.

“I’ve been playing with some top girls and matching up with them, I feel like I belong and it’s been good ... self-belief is there, that’s been the difference.

“In the past, I’ve gone ahead of myself a lot, thinking about the finish line, I’ve done that a lot in my career.”

Rogowska, who failed to make the main draw here at Melbourne Park the past two seasons, credited practice sessions with grand slam winners Sam Stosur and Sloane Stephens and Kristina Mladenovic for her return to form.

Rogowska praised teen sensation Fourlis’s intent.

“She played it really well, she had nothing to lose,” Rogowska said.

“I didn’t play great, but she played really well credit to her.

“She returned really well, she was hitting her forehand, I struggled to see where she was hitting the ball, it was patchy though, in the third set I got on top of her, tried to stay tough and it helped me.”

Rogowska will face-off against Ukraine qualifier Marta Kostyuk in the second round.