Sloane Stephens powered past Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros on Tuesday in a comprehensive victory that secures a semifinal clash with fellow American Madison Keys.
The No. 10 seed, who beat Keys in the US Open final last year while unseeded, has reached her first French Open semifinal.
She did so with a commanding show of power and control, smashing forehands into all corners of the court and forcing Kasatkina into countless errors. Stephens tallied 16 winners, while the Russian produced just 10 to 25 unforced errors.
“I knew I had to come out and keep swinging,” Stephens said. “Sometimes I start well and sometimes a little sluggish. I knew I needed to keep swinging no matter what, even if it was very close, so that’s what I did.”
That authority was on display from the early stages of the match. Stephens broke Kasatkina, the No. 14 seed, at love on her second service game, then responded to losing her own serve by breaking back immediately.
Stephens fought back from 40-0 down in that marathon game, chock-full of the lengthy, heavy rallies that defined the match, then converted her first set point in the next game when Kasatkina slammed a ball into the net.
Kasatkina never recovered from that setback, dropping each of her last three service games as Stephens adroitly knocked groundstrokes past the 21-year-old Russian. The American punctuated her dominating display with a powerful forehand down the line on her first match point to win the final six games of the match.
“[In] the second set, she just continued to put the pressure,” Kasatkina said. “And she won. She was better than me today.”
The 25-year-old Stephens displayed remarkable control on her serve, placing 83 percent of first serves in and winning seven of the nine points on her second serve. Kasatkina, meanwhile, won less than half of the points on her serve.
The victory continued a superb Roland Garros for Stephens, who has dropped just one set in five matches despite a mediocre 4-4 record in clay-court WTA events that followed her win in Miami. The 2017 WTA Comeback Player of the Year advanced past the fourth round of the French Open for the first time and is guaranteed to surpass her career-high of No. 9 next week.
“I’m super-excited again to have my best result here, obviously, being in another semis of a slam is amazing,” Stephens said. “Another good opportunity on Thursday, and [I’m] just really looking forward to it.”
