Nineteen-year-old American Sloane Stephens beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6–3, 6–4 to advance to the second round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
Stephens brought power and speed to battle the speed and shot variety of her much more experienced opponent. She also brought poise; Stephens didn’t falter under the pressure of facing the former French Open winner.
Schiavone showed the first concentration lapse, hitting five double faults in her first service game to give Stephens the early break. Schiavone broke right back, but Stephens stayed aggressive, running and hitting hard, to break Schiavone in the eighth game.
Stephens started the second set with another service break and a hold before losing two in a row. The rest of the set was a running gun-battle, with Stephens eventually proving to have the bigger gun.
Stephens told ESPN how she felt, down 0-40 in the final game, serving for the match: “I was just like, ‘I have to stay within myself, I have to focus—you only get one chance to serve out the match right now do you better focus and try do the best you can.’”
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