Sloane Stephens triumphs over Sesil Karatantcheva to reach round two – Citi Open 2012
Third seed, Sloane Stephens, battled past the Kazakhstani competitor, Sesil Karatantcheva, in a three-set thriller at the Citi Open 2012 on Monday. She jolted down a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory against the 22-year-old to secure a place in the pre-quarters at this
WTA International-level tournament taking place in Washington D.C, United States.
The 19-year-old showed flawless performance to outrun Karatantcheva in their first encounter. After recording the victory in almost two hours, Stephens assertively progressed into the second round at this outdoor hard court tournament taking place from 28th
July to 5th August.
"I was playing pretty well and I think she was playing pretty well," Stephens commented. "The second set was just a matter of a couple loose points. I was just a little bit more consistent in the end, and I think that's what carried me through."
Stephens went out of control after entering the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. She blasted massive forehands to go on a five-game killing spree before the Bulgarian-born Karatantcheva could come on the score sheet. Apart from failing to block the
lone breakpoint she came across in the seventh game, the American stayed calm and pulled out the opener with a 6-3 score line.
The world number 106 on the other side of net re-focused her strategy. She broke her rival’s serve twice to go 3-1 up. Despite losing her edge again in the fifth game, the Kazakh stroke out the last three games successively and clicked the equaliser by winning
six games to two.
Ranked 50th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Stephens unleashed her skills again in the final set and went on a three-game rampage before the Kazakh could break back. She stroke out the last three games as well and carved out the decider with a breadstick.
The American teenager ruled throughout the match. In addition to this, she praised the tournament and commented about having women compete the same week as the men:
"It's a really great event. They get a lot of people here. I think the fans really love that there's women's tennis now. There were a lot of people at my match, and I think that was a good turnout for 9:30 at night. Not only is it good for the women to get
that support, but it's good for the tournament."
Stephens will next face the Portuguese qualifier, Michelle Larcher De Brito, who battled past Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic in three sets to progress.
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