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U.S. Open Winner Sloane Stephens Beats Roland Garros Champion Jelena Ostapenko to Win Miami Open Title

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U.S. Open Winner Sloane Stephens Beats Roland Garros Champion Jelena Ostapenko to Win Miami Open Title

Sloane Stephens

(March 31, 2018) MIAMI – In a battle between the reigning champions of the U.S. Open and Roland Garros, the 13th seed, US Open champion and Florida native Sloane Stephens defeated No. 6 seed and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to win the Miami Open crown 7-6(5), 6-1 on Saturday afternoon. This is the American’s first WTA Premier Mandatory tennis title. It’s also her first title since winning the US Open. She’ll make her debut in the Top Ten on Monday at No. 9. She’s now 6-0 in finals.

It’s been a long road for Stephens who was off the tennis tour for 11 months, coming back last Summer and rising from the 951 in the world to winning the U.S. Open. “Yeah, I think obviously finding out when I was in Australia that I needed foot surgery, I was thinking that my life was over because the only thing I had was tennis and that was the only thing that I knew.

“When I changed my perspective and I went and worked at Tennis Channel and I was finishing up school, like, I had so many things to look forward to and so many things that I knew in my life that I could accomplish. Just being able to feel really good about something else other than tennis really gave me perspective.

“I think coming back to play tennis, it just — I feel so good that I’m able to compete every week. And even when I was down after the US Open, I didn’t have my best results and people were down on me, I just — you know, I said to myself, There’s so many great opportunities out there, and every week you’re not going to be able to take the title, you’re not going to be able to win, but it’s basically the people who bounce back the best are the people who are able to basically secure those opportunities.”

 


The 92-minute match itself was not a classic. The match began with four straight service breaks. Stephens served for the first set twice – at 5-4 and at 6-5, getting broken both times. The 25-year-old had a 6-2 lead in the tiebreak and needed a fourth set point to win the tiebreak at 7-5.

The second set saw both women exchange breaks to open. After that, Ostapenko’s errors went up. Stephens blocking everything back like a backboard, until the Latvian made an error.

Stephens hit 6 winners to 21 unforced errors, while Ostapenko had 25 winners to 48 errors.

“I knew that I was just going to have to run a lot of balls down,” said the winner. “The way that she plays is she has a very aggressive style, and sometimes you can’t outhit her or outrun her. You just kind of have to accept that she’s going to hit some really great shots.

“I think that’s what I did best today. When she was hitting great shots, I just was, like, Too good, and moved on. I think that’s what helped me kind of get through that breaker. I just accepted that some good shots were going to be hit and just didn’t harp on it too much.”

This is the last year that the Miami Open is being held at Bey Biscayne in Crandon Park. Next year the tournament will be moving to North Miami to Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.

“Obviously this place is pretty special to me, said the Fort Lauderdale area native. “I grew up playing tennis here. When the USTA was here, we played Orange Bowl and all sorts of tournaments here.

“I’m definitely happy that I could be the last person to win here. I have had some amazing experiences here, and I’ll definitely miss it, but I think — yeah, I just feel fortunate that I was able to do that here in South Florida with all my friends and family watching.”

Stephens’ next stop is the on the clay courts of the Volvo Cars Open in Charleston, where she plays in a few days.

“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously I missed the last clay court season, so I’m super excited to get back out there.

“Red clay is my favorite. I haven’t been to Rome in, like, two years, so I’m looking forward to getting back there.

“Yeah, I’m just really looking forward to it. I think that I’m playing well. I’m in a good place. Hopefully I can make some dents there, as well, during the clay court season.”

 

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