After a long day of tennis and rain, the American WTA witnessed a great match on its central court. On the one hand, an old acquaintance, Sloane Stephens (38th WTA) faced one of the young promises of tennis, the Russian Mirra Andreeva (67th WTA) for a pass to the quarterfinals.
Sloane former top five and winner of the US Open in 2017 turned thirty this season, her experience and ranking place her as the favorite in this match. Although on the other side is one of the jewels of tennis, a player who promises a lot, Andreeva is 16 years old and is already among the hundred best players in the world. In addition, she made the third round at Roland Garros and reached the second week of Wimbledon.
Stephens imposes his hierarchy
The beginning of the game was very dominated by the hierarchy of the American. A quick break from Stephens would put her 3-0 up on the scoreboard. The trend was marked, the American took the initiative and was the one who was looking the most. On her side, the Russian played a counterattack game, and sought to contain the depth of Sloane’s shots. After the break at the start of the match, there were no further breaks in the set. Therefore, that first advantage of Stephens allowed him to win the first set 6-3.
A hard-fought win
Sloane Stephens managed to transfer the good feelings of the first set to the second round. The American begins by breaking her rival’s serve without giving up any points. She was imposing her game, being the total protagonist of the moment, that would lead her to hold her serve comfortably and break Andreeva’s serve again. The rain was returning to the Cleveland courts and the game had to be called off when the 2017 US Open champion was up 4-0. Doubly Andreeva would try to cut differences, although it would be of little use. Finally, and with two consecutive games, Sloane took advantage of two consecutive games to break his rival’s serve. With the need for two match points, the American left a 6-3 in her favor that allowed her to advance in the round.
2023-08-24 17:58:22
#Stephens #wins #duel #Andreeva
