US Open champion Sloane Stephens has been bundled out of the Australian Open, suffering an unexpected 6-2, 6-7, 2-6 loss to Zhang Shuai of China in the opening round of the tournament on Monday.
Stephens became the first big-name casualty of the year’s first Grand Slam event after she was shown the door by World No. 34 Shuai in what turned out to be a seesaw tussle at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park.
It wasn’t the first time Zhang beat a top player in the Victorian capital. In fact, she had advanced to the quarterfinals of the competition in Melbourne back in 2016 after upsetting current World No. 1 Simona Halep, Alize Cornet of France and US Open runner-up Madison Keys.
“This court (is) really special for me,” Zhang said after winning her contest with Stephens.
“When I come back here for warm-up … I’m feeling so exciting. So I think I’m ready today.”
At the start of the encounter, Stephens looked in imperious form, striking down 14 clean winners to cruise through the opening set in just 38 minutes. And the American looked in complete control of the match when she broke Zhang’s serve to take a 5-4 lead in the second. However, Sloane faltered big time at that stage as Zhang broke back and forced a tiebreaker.
In the breaker, Zhang was simply the better player as she played solid tennis while Stephens looked visibly shaken after she failed to close it out. The Chinese star, then started to dominate proceedings with an early break in the third set before finishing the match on her own serve to send the 2013 semifinalist crashing from the tournament.
“I play against a top player,” Zhang said.
“Sloane she plays so well, and she win the US Open, everyone knows she’s good player, I like her so much.”
