Sloane Stephens upsets Serena Williams in the quarter-finals – Australian Open 2013
A mind startling performance from the world number 25, Sloane Stephens, stunned everyone at the Melbourne Park Arena, as she upset the hot favourite, Serena Williams, in the quarter-final battle of Australian Open. The gruelling
three-setter was played on Wednesday afternoon, with the world number three falling to the power-hitting of her 19-year-old compatriot. Stephens took two hours and 17 minutes of sheer hard work to settle the final score line at 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, registering the
biggest upset of the tournament so far.
"Last night someone asked me, 'Do you think you can win?' I thought about it and I was like, 'Yeah, I think so,' but I wasn't too clear about it," Stephens recalled in her press conference. "I think I was convinced I was able to
do it when I lost serve in the first game in the second set and went down 2-0. I was like, 'Hmm, this is not the way you want it to happen. But just fight and just get every ball back, run every ball down, and just get a lot of balls in play. I think you'll
be okay."
No one expected a 19-year-old underdog to outplay the devastating American but it actually happened on Wednesday afternoon. Williams was the top bid for winning the Australian Open Grand Slam title and her loss to Stephens was
the most shocking news for tennis fans all over the globe.
Williams won the opening set convincingly and it appeared as she will simply cruise through the following set. However, a solid resistance from Stephens resulted in a break point for her in the very first game of the second set.
Williams cut down her opponent’s lead in the fourth game with a break point conversion but she was struck by a pain in her lower back. The third seed American had to take a medical treatment to recover from the sudden jerk of pain but her return to the court
didn’t proved fruitful for her. Stephens took the second set at 7-5.
The world number three didn’t play at her best in the rest of the match and was cheaply hunted down by attacking game play of Stephens at 4-6. Stephens will take on the world number one, Victoria Azarenka, in the semi-final round.
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