eighth seed, Stosur had a bye in the first round, and played Francesca Schiavone in the second round, winning in a three-set battle. She defeated 12th seed Dominika Cibulková in the third round in two sets. In the quarterfinals, she beat world No. 2, Maria Sharapova, in straight sets, causing a huge upset—considering Stosur had only beaten Sharapova once in eleven matches. However, Stosur lost the semifinal to former doubles partner and eventual champion Petrova, in straight sets. 2013: Struggles with form She started her year at the Brisbane International where she was seeded seventh. Before the tournament started, Stosur admitted that she had only ten days of practice on court since surgery to remove a spur from her left ankle. This was just six weeks prior to the first-round match. Stosur lost in the first round to Sofia Arvidsson where she committed 48 unforced errors. Stosur played Zheng Jie in the first round at the Apia International Sydney, where she was seeded sixth. She lost in a tight three-set battle. It was Stosur's fifth consecutive loss in Australia; however, she broke a nine-set losing streak in the country by winning the second set. At the Australian Open, where she was seeded ninth, Stosur broke her Australian hoodoo, by defeating Chang Kai-chen in the first round in a straight sets win. However, she lost in the second round to Zheng Jie for the second straight tournament despite being up 5–2 up in the third set. Stosur bounced back from a poor start to the season to win her second round match at the Qatar Total Open over Monica Niculescu in three sets. She then defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarterfinals. Stosur went on to lose the quarterfinal match against Sharapova. She then competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded seventh. She opened her campaign with a two set victory over Ekaterina Makarova and then moved into the quarterfinals after defeating Hsieh Su-wei. For the second week in a row Stosur lost in the quarterfinals but this time she was shocked by Roberta Vinci in straight sets. She then left to the United States where she played at the Indian Wells tournament. After a bye in the first round, she defeated young wild card Madison Keys. Stosur then struggled past 32nd seed Peng Shuai in three sets. into the fourth round where she recovered from a set