Not Sloan down: Stephens goes full steam ahead into U.S. Open semifinals
By Ricky Dimon
I don’t even need to see the numbers in order to accurately describe Sloane Stephens’ recent resurgence.
All you need to know is the following: when this summer began, I literally had no idea that Sloane Stephens still played tennis. Now she is in the U.S. Open semifinals.
That’s right–a player whom I thought had retired is two wins away from winning a Grand Slam title. Granted, I don’t follow the WTA Tour on a daily basis. But I bet even a lot of people who do follow the WTA on the daily thought Sloane was done. After all, she did not play a match in between last summer’s Rio Olympics and the Cincinnati Masters. For those counting, that’s 11 months. So forgive me if I forgot that Sloane is still a thing.
But she is more than a thing now. The 24-year-old American began picking up momentum with back-to-back semifinals in Toronto and Cincinnati. Sloane has parlayed that success into an even more improbable run in New York, where she is through to another semifinal–this time at a Grand Slam.
She did in the hard way on Tuesday, outlasting Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) after two hours and 28 minutes.
“It’s incredible; amazing,” Sloane said of being in the semis. “If someone would have told me when I started at Wimbledon that I’d be in the semifinals or making, well, three semifinals back to back, I would have said they’re crazy.”
How’s this for crazy? One of the women’s semifinals will pit someone who was ranked No. 934 in the world a month ago (Sloane) against someone who is 37 years old (Venus Williams). Venus also survived a third-set tiebreaker, beating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2).
Sloane vs. Venus. An all-American semifinal. You can bet this time I’m not gonna forget that Sloane still plays tennis. I’m all in for that one.
Topics: 10sballs.com, 2017 US Open, Ricky Dimon, Sloane Stephens, Tennis News, US Open tennis, Venus Williams, Wta