At this year’s US Open, third seed Sloane Stephens is relishing her latest run in New York as she continues to live up to the high expectations of her home fans.
For the second consecutive year, the reigning champion has reached the quarter-finals in Flushing Meadows. On Sunday she strolled to a 6-3, 6-3, win over Belgium’s Elise Mertens. A player who she lost to in the Cincinnati Open earlier this year. The latest clash was far from flawless from perfect performance from the American, who hit 25 unforced errors to 16 winners. A stark improvement on Mertens’ tally of 12 and 35.
“I think an American playing at the US Open is incredible. But obviously winning here, being the defending champion is crazy. Then to follow that up and do well again, I think it’s something to really get behind.” Stephens said during her press conference.
“I think the state of American tennis, women’s tennis especially, is incredible right now. I think the support is unbelievable for all American players. Just excited to be playing at a time like this.”
Stephens is bidding to become the 23rd women to defend a title in the history of the US Open and only the fourth within the past 20 years. The 25-year-old is yet to defend a title on the WTA Tour, but has won a total of six titles. Although she is keen to play down the hype surrounding the topic.
“I think defending a title is super tough. It doesn’t happen very often. I think the expectation to come in here and win the tournament is just ridiculous, like it’s you have to take one match at a time.” She said.
“Defending a title isn’t defending. If you were to play the same people in a row again and beat all of them again, that would be defending your title. When you’re playing a whole new draw, different seedings, different ranking, there’s so much that goes into it. When you go to a tournament, it starts all over again.
“I think I try not to put too much emphasis on defending the title, just try to come in and win as many matches as possible, like keep playing, keep going.”
The eagerness to play down her chances is partly due to that fact Stephens continues to find it ‘weird’ to refer to herself as a US Open champion. She entered last year’s tournament with the use of her protected ranking following a lengthy absence from the tour due to injury. Defeating Madison keys in straight sets during the final.
Flashbacks of what happened 12 months ago may be triggered in her upcoming quarter-final match. Stephens will take on Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, who knocked out Elina Svitolina in three sets. The two players also clash at the same stage of the tournament last year. On that occasion, Stephens rallied to a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4), win.
“I think it will be a good match. I played her in Montreal. We played a good match. Hoping to just get out there and kind of execute the same game plan. Obviously won’t be easy. Quarterfinals of a Grand Slam is always really tough. A big opportunity for both of us.” She said about the upcoming clash.
Stephens leads Sevastova 2-1 in their head-to-head.
