Stosur prevails in 1st round marathon match in Sydney

SYDNEY (AP) Australia's Samantha Stosur overcame her home-crowd jitters to rally for a 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3 win over Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Sydney International on Monday.

Stosur has long struggled to match her other Grand Slam results - including a win at the 2011 U.S. Open - at her home major, the Australian Open, as well as other tournaments Down Under.

Last week, she fell to American Varvara Lepchenko 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Brisbane International after leading 5-1 in the third set. She has also lost four times in the first round at Sydney and had a mediocre 7-7 record at the tournament before Monday's three-hour victory.