Sloane Stephens trounces Ayumi Morita to enter semis – Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012
American youngster, Sloane Stephens, stomped over the Japanese star, Ayumi Morita, in straight sets at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012 on Thursday. She nudged up a 6-3, 6-4 success against the 22-year-old to power into the semi-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court event taking place in Strasbourg, France.
Stephens, who is one of the two teenagers in the top-100 at the WTA rankings, displayed awe-inspiring skills to pounce over the world number 88 in their first meeting. After earning the fame in one hour and 19 minutes, the American comfortably advanced into the last four.
The 19-year-old enthusiastically entered this International-level tournament and after brushing off all four breakpoints she faced, Stephens plucked her entire serves. The blossoming American got the breakthrough in the eighth game after cashing in lone break opportunity and clicked the opener with a 6-3 win.
Ranked 79th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Stephens kept momentum sailing into the proceeding set and earned the coveted break in the fifth game to take the upper hand. She then exchanged two serve breaks before serving out the set by winning six games to four.
Overall, Stephens clobbered a better first serve share of 85 per cent as compared to her rival’s 71 per cent and amazingly marked 35 out of 53 points on it. She also hammered three aces and ended the match with 69 points.
Up next for the American is the second seed, Francesca Schiavone, who slew Sweden’s Johanna Larsson with a bagel to set-up this duel.
"She is a young player who I like a lot. I think she is one of the best young players on the WTA," Schiavone commented about her next match-up against the American. "I will try to use my experience on clay against her, but I have to respect her as she has great shots and plays a lot off instinct and with confidence."
Schiavone was on a three match losing streak on clay before bagging some matches at this event. She trashed Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu and the Croatian qualifier, Mirjana Lucic, with a breadstick in the pre-quarter rounds.
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