{"id":15220,"date":"2018-03-31T21:58:26","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T02:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=15220"},"modified":"2018-04-01T00:44:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T05:44:23","slug":"u-s-open-champion-sloane-ms-diesel-stephens-triumphs-over-jelena-ostapenko-in-straight-sets-to-win-the-miami-open-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=15220","title":{"rendered":"2017 US OPEN CHAMPION, “Sloane (MS. DIESEL) Stephens”, Triumphs Over Jelena Ostapenko In Straight Sets, To Win The Miami Open Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"MIAMI, FL, USA – In the battle between reigning Grand Slam champions, Sloane Stephens edged past big-hitting Jelena Ostapenko to claim the Miami Open title in straight sets – the second-biggest title of her career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephens, a South Florida native who lives in Fort Lauderdale, won the last women’s final on Key Biscayne. The tournament will move next year to the Miami Dolphins’ stadium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seeded 13th, Stephens won with defense, repeatedly extending rallies until Ostapenko would make a mistake. Ostapenko had a 25-6 advantage in winners but committed 48 unforced errors to 21 by Stephens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Stephens was the surprise champion at the U.S. Open last September and then endured a long slump she ended at Key Biscayne. She improved to 6-0 in finals, and will break into the top 10 for first time next week at No. 9.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roland Garros champion Ostapenko came into the match without having dropped a set or lost a tiebreak during the entire Miami fortnight – but both streaks came to an end at the hands of US Open winner Stephens, 7-6(5), 6-1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The victory will be even sweeter for Stephens come Monday – she\u2019ll make her long-awaited Top 10 debut after this week, landing at World No.9. She also extends her impressive undefeated record in finals to 6-0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Stephens and the No. 6-seeded Ostapenko, last year’s French Open champion, battled almost exclusively from the baseline, and the quality of play was often ragged. The finalists traded breaks for four games, and Stephens was broken twice more when serving for the first set.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She wobbled again leading 6-2 in the pivotal tiebreaker, hitting unforced errors to lose consecutive set points. But Ostapenko dumped an easy backhand into the net to lose the set, and the Latvian appeared to tire after that, as a result of the onslaught of power returns received from Sloane Stephens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephens swept the final six games, and on championship point Ostapenko sent a forehand wide. Stephens celebrated by pumping both fists to cheers from her hometown crowd.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many ways, the career trajectories of Stephens and Ostapenko are a mirror of each other – both players struggled to back up their surprise Grand Slam results last year, combining for just seven match wins in 2018. But they both found their groove under the South Florida sun, and contested their first WTA Premier Mandatory finals today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"No.13 seed Stephens weathered an error-strewn start featuring four straight breaks of serve to get ahead at 4-3 in the first set. Ostapenko employed her signature lights-out, aggressive tennis, but offered up too many free points to the American allowing her to keep things close as \u00a0Stephens stayed rock solid.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ostapenko pounced on a loose service game from Stephens to grab the first break in the second set, but the American slammed the door shut to break straight back, finding an answer to everything the big-hitting Latvian sent her way. Sloane Stephens, showing her U.S. Champion winning vigor, reeled off the next five games in a row to zoom ahead to a straight sets victory after an hour and 31 minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MORE ON SLOANE (MS. DIESEL) STEPHENS, @SloaneStephens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis<\/a> player. She has won seven singles titles, including her first Major at the 2017 US Open, and also\u00a0The 2018 Miami Open presented by Ita\u00fa, which is of the <\/b><\/a>Premier Mandatory<\/a>\u00a0Category on the 2018 WTA Tour<\/a>.\u00a0<\/b>With 2017 US OPEN victory, she became the lowest ranked player (83rd) to ever win the women’s singles title and the first American woman apart from the Williams sisters<\/a> to win a Grand Slam<\/a> since\u00a0Jennifer Capriati<\/a> in 2002. Stephens was awarded WTA Comeback Player of the Year<\/a> in 2017.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She has also reached the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open<\/a>, defeating Serena Williams<\/a> in the quarterfinals, the quarterfinals of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships<\/a> and won her first title at the 2015 Citi Open<\/a>. Stephens holds a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 which she achieved in October 2013.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephens is an all-court player. She hits her forehand with a large swing and as a result the shot can be either a strength or a weakness for her. Stephens sports a powerful two-handed backhand. Cross-court, she tends to hit a very steady ball, often hoping to run around her backhand in order to hit an aggressive forehand. She often finishes points at the net and is a competent volleyer. In her 2013 Australian Open<\/a> match against Serena Williams<\/a>, she won 18 of 20 (90%) net points. She also has a good serve with a very fluid motion.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephens often stays well behind the baseline, relying on her athleticism to chase and return balls. She is capable of defending against powerfully-hit shots, and occasionally turns defensive shots into offensive shots. Fitness is one of her biggest strengths on the tennis court.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephens current coach is Kamau Murray, who has redirected her career, and it appears to be going to great heights, to include several GRAND SLAMS in the future.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

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MIAMI, FL, USA – In the battle between reigning Grand Slam champions, Sloane Stephens edged past big-hitting Jelena Ostapenko to claim the Miami Open title in straight sets – the second-biggest title of her career. Stephens, a South Florida native who lives in Fort Lauderdale, won the last women’s final on Key Biscayne. The tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2611,2613,2003,2616,2620,2615,2612,1312,1414,2621,1288,2624,1566,2617,1341,1967,2619,2623,2622,2618,2614,2493,2610],"class_list":["post-15220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-1-u-s-born-march-20","tag-1-u-s-height-5-ft-7-in-1-7-m1-turned-pro-20102-plays-right-handed-two-handed-backhand-coach-kamau-murray-2015-prize-money-us9","tag-sloanestephens","tag-1-itf-highest-ranking-no-11-october-21","tag-1-itf-highest-ranking-no-94-october-24","tag-170-official-website-sloanestephens-com-singles-career-record-235-162-59-19-career-titles-6-wta","tag-1993-age-251-plantation","tag-1312","tag-1414","tag-2011-current-ranking-no-133-march-19","tag-1288","tag-2012-team-competitions-fed-cup-w-2017-record-3-5","tag-1566","tag-2013-current-ranking-no-12-march-19","tag-1341","tag-2014-wimbledon-2r-2017-us-open-1r-2009","tag-2015-wimbledon-qf-2013-us-open-w-2017-other-tournaments-olympic-games-1r-2016-doubles-career-record-38-49-43-68-career-titles-0-wta","tag-2017-mixed-doubles-grand-slam-mixed-doubles-results-australian-open-2r-2016-wimbledon-1r-2017-us-open-2r-2008","tag-2018-grand-slam-doubles-results-australian-open-1r-2012-french-open-1r-2012","tag-2018-grand-slam-singles-results-australian-open-sf-2013-french-open-4r-2012","tag-2614","tag-florida","tag-sloane-stephens-stephens-wm17-7-35347283294-jpg-stephens-at-the-2017-wimbledon-championships-country-sports-united-states1-residence-coral-springs","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}