Romanian Sorana Cirstea (in picture) stunned the tennis world and crushed a nation's hopes with her straight sets thrashing of sixth seed and US Open champion, Australian Samantha Stosur in the first round of the Australian Open. Cirstea, ranked 59 in the world and beaten by Stosur on their two previous meetings, said after the match that, "probably the whole country hates me right now."

The Romanian outclassed and out hit Australia's big hope for the women's competition. After losing the first set in tie break, the Australian crumbled in the second and after just 91 minutes Sorana Cirstea was through to the second round with a 7-6, 6-3 win.

Stosur has a poor record in her own country's Grand Slam tournament and said that the pressure of playing in front of a home crowd had affected her game. The bitterly disappointed Australian, who described herself as being close to tears, did admit that she had been out played on the day.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sorana Cirstea's Facebook profile)