By Chris Oddo | Friday August 31, 2018
Playing undercard to the Williams sisters didn't keep Sloane Stephens from stealing the show on Day 5 of the U.S. Open.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
The top two seeds have already fallen out of the U.S. Open’s women’s singles draw in the first two rounds, but No.3 is on the up.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens battled past Victoria Azarenka on Day 5, notching a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the two-time major champion to book a round of 16 match with Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
The victory marks Stephens 10th in a row at the U.S. Open and her 30th of the season.
It won’t get any easier for Stephens, who was frustrated by Mertens in their only previous meeting and fell in straight sets to the clever and talented 22-year-old at Cincinnati just two weeks ago.
“I think I was extremely tired coming off of Montreal,” Stephens said of that encounter. “Obviously had set points in the first. I actually didn't play bad, but when you don't execute well, mentally, I was tired, I was fried.”
Stephens was anything but fried on Friday in New York. She was met with stern resistance from Azarenka after breezing through the first set, but answered every challenge to ensure a third consecutive victory over the Belarusian in straight sets.
It was a fiery performance from Stephens that led to an emotional celebration after the match.
“I think my fight was good, but I thought that there were some points that were very crucial, like in the second,” Stephens said. “When you win or lose those points, sometimes that's how the matches go. … It was a few points in the second that really kind of changed the match.”
Stephens saved five of seven break points and finished with 20 winners against 17 unforced errors to complete her victory in one hour and 46 minutes.
Azarenka was disappointed that she couldn’t find a way into the match against Stephens, and said she would need to look at her season closely in order to figure out a way to get back to the top of the sport. She drops to 15-11 in a season that has seen her make an inspiring return to full-time tennis after becoming a mother and battling some difficult personal issue; but the wins haven’t come.
“I played okay,” she said. “You know, it was just a matter of a few points and those points that I still don't do enough and they cost me the match. I played against No. 3 player in the world with all the chances in the world. That's a positive. But sitting here, it's not easy and be optimistic, but I will have to force myself to be that way.”
Svitolina, Sevastova Set R16 Clash
That Grand Slam magic has escaped Elina Svitolina over the course of her career, even as she has risen up the rankings and racked up titles. The Ukrainian has 12 titles to her name and yet she has yet to reach the semifinals in her first 23 major appearances.
Today she took a step closer to that elusive first major semifinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over China’s Wang Qiang. The victory for Svitolina sets up a round of 16 encounter with Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.
The 28-year-old Latvian won for the first time in four career matches with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The pair have met once on the challenger circuit with Svitolina winning in 2013 in straight sets.
Four to Come
In addition to the 30th meeting of Venus and Serena Williams on Ashe tonight, three other third-round matches will be played. Kaia Kanepi, who defeated Simona Halep in the first round, will face Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, while Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic will face Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Muchova knocked off No.2-seeded Garbine Muguruza in the second round.
The other matchup will feature No.8-seeded Karolina Pliskova and unseeded American Sofia Kenin.