Sloane Stephens thrashed under-par Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Open for the first time.
Thursday’s match against either Karolina Pliskova or Victoria Azarenka will be the American’s first in a semi-final since she won the US Open in September 2017, and only her third appearance in the last four of a Premier Mandatory event.
On a windy day in Key Biscayne, Stephens coped with the conditions much better than Kerber to wrap up a straight-sets victory in just 63 minutes.
The American, 25, did not face a single break point as she raced through the first set in just 24 minutes. She crunched 11 winners during an impressive display of power hitting and swift movement and broke the German twice to win it 6-1.
After three routine holds at the start of the second set, Kerber put pressure on Stephens’ serve for the first time in the match by being much more aggressive and really trying to hit through the American. But the World No.12 coped well and managed to hold.
The German’s failure to break seemed to deflate her as made a series of errors to go down 0-40 on her serve. But she got herself together to hit a forehand winner and couple of big serves to take the score to deuce.
That was only a temporary respite for Kerber, who saved two more break points with wide, swinging serves before Stephens finally broke at the sixth attempt with a vicious whipped backhand into Kerber’s feet.
The German earned a first break point of the match on the American’s serve in game six. However, after Stephens saved it and held, Kerber crumbled and lost her own serve to trail 5-2.
Serving for the match, Stephens was under a little pressure at 30-30. She hit a superb cross-court forehand winner to earn her first match point, but could only watch as Kerber sliced a deft backhand into space to save it.
However, the American immediately brought up another match point, and this time she clinched victory with an excellent forehand winner.
