Top 20 breakthroughs in professional tennis circuit this year: Part Six – Tennis Special
10. Sloane Stephens (the United States of America)
Merely 19 years of age, no other teenager form the United States has gained such lime light this season than Sloane Stephens. Having dominating the junior-level tennis circuit, Stephens has been extremely phenomenal in the elite
WTA Tour as well. She took barely two years to break into the Top-100 rankings and her sublime run of the current professional circuit has propelled her to the world number 36 spot at the present.
Known for her lethal serve, Stephens is deemed to be the future of the American women’s tennis. With the belligerent Williams Sisters crawling nearer to their retirement, Stephens is expected to the perfect replacement for the
two legendary champions. Her playing style, intensity and aggression looks quite similar to the Williams Sisters and some tennis lovers have already started to call her ‘the Next Venus Williams’.
Having powerful forehand and solid backhand strokes in her arsenal of skills, Stephens could be extremely dangerous on her day. She moves exceptionally well at the baseline and doesn’t fear to foray the net frequently in a contest.
Stephens’ early success this season made her earn entries to the main draws of most of the WTA Tour events but she would rather fall in the second round, especially at the bigger events with competitive players’ field. She lost
in the second round at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Rome before she could reach the third round at the mega event in Miami. She was also a semi-finalist in Strasbourg, losing to the Italian veteran, Francesca Schiavone.
Her major breakthrough of the current season came at the Roland Garros French Open, when she beat all the odds to reach the fourth round of the Grand Slam event in Paris. She outshined the Russian left-hander, Ekaterina Makarova,
6-4, 7-6(6), in the opening round, followed by a 6-1, 6-1, triumph over her fellow compatriot, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, in the next round. She eased into the fourth round after dumping Mathilde Johansson, 6-3, 6-2. Stephens’ magic didn’t work against the former
US Open champion, Samantha Stosur, in the fourth round and she suffered a 5-7, 4-6, defeat to end her dream run.
She carried on with her winning impetus in the following Grand Slam event, the Wimbledon Championships, and outplayed Karolina Pliskova to begin her campaign. The 19-year-old American then stunned the Czech tennis ace, Petra Cetkovska,
in a gruelling three-setter in the second round but couldn’t repeat her heroics against the German diva, Sabine Lisicki, in the third round battle.
Stephens suffered two opening-round exits from Stanford and Carlsbad events immediately after her Wimbledon campaign but returned to form at the WTA event in Washington DC. She went all the way to the semi-finals but was denied
by the brilliance of the inferior-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova.
Her impressive performances at the most elite tournaments, the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open, showed her true potential and the spirit to win. She lost to the then world number three, Agnieszka Radwanska, in a taxing three-setter,
1-6, 6-4, 4-6, in the third round at Cincinnati, followed by another third-round defeat at the hands of the former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, at the US Open.
Stephens has got all the weapons in her artillery and she only needs a little time to mature. Surely she will develop into a fearsome tennis player and will carry on the legacy of the American tennis among the women professional
players in the future.
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