STEPHENS, VANDEWEGHE GET FIRST WINS

Written by: Staff on 31st August 2011

STEPHENS, VANDEWEGHE GET FIRST WINS |

(Courtesy of USTA)

Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe each claimed their first Grand Slam victories
yesterday. Stephens defeated Reka-Luca Jani, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3), winning the last five
points of the tie-break, while Vandeweghe defeated world No. 56 Alberta Brianti, 7-5, 6-3,
to move into the second round. Vandeweghe will be back on the court today against No.
9 seed Samantha Stosur in a second-round match, along with Monday’s teenage winners
Madison Keys and Christina McHale.

Stephens won the girls’ doubles at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in
2010 and reached the quarterfinals or better in singles at all three events as well. The
win yesterday will boost her into the Top 100 for the first time, where the 18-year-old will
supplant McHale as the youngest player in the world’s Top 100.

The 19-year-old Vandeweghe, meanwhile, had previously gone 0-6 in Slams, including
first-round losses at the US Open in 2008 and 2010, but she has had success at the junior
level, winning the US Open girls’ singles title in 2008. Vandeweghe is the niece of former
NBA player Kiki Vandeweghe and her mother, Tauna, was a two-time Olympian, once in
volleyball and once in swimming. Vandeweghe faces No. 9 seed Samantha Stosur in the
second round today.

Also advancing yesterday were a pair of 22-year-olds, Vania King and Donald Young.
King, the 2010 US Open women’s doubles champion, defeated Greta Arn, 6-1, 6-4, while
Young defeated Lukas Lacko, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, for his first match victory at the US Open
since 2007. Young next faces No. 14 seed Stanislas Wawrinka. James Blake also won
his first-round match, moving to the second round for the 10th straight time at Flushing
Meadows.

Also yesterday, Lauren Davis came up short in her bid to become the third USTA Girls’
18s champion to win a round at the US Open since 2000, falling to Angelique Kerber, 7-6,
6-3.

2011 GRAND SLAM CHAMPIONS MAKE EARLY OPEN
EXITS

In a first in the Open Era, none of the three Grand Slam champions from the year
advanced past the first round of the US Open. Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters,
the two-time defending champion here, was forced to pull out with an injury; on Monday
Petra Kvitova became the first Wimbledon champion of the Open Era to lose in the first
round of that same year’s US Open; and yesterday Li Na was eliminated by Hungarian
teenager Simona Halep. In fact, neither Kvitova nor Li were able to capture a set.