Firm friends out to tear each other apart
– Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys, both struggling with serious injuries just three months ago, advanced to their first Grand Slam final at the US Open on Thursday.
Stephens, who missed 11 months with a left foot injury before returning in July, outlasted seven-time Slam champion Venus Williams 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.
“I’m super happy to be in a Grand Slam final,” Stephens said. “To do it here, my home Slam, is obviously more special.”
US 15th seed Keys, who had left wrist surgery for the second time in 10 months after a firstround French Open exit, routed US 20th seed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2 in 66 minutes to complete the first all-American US Open final since Serena Williams beat sister Venus in 2002.
“I’m still shaking,” Keys said. “There’s a lot of things in my head right now so I’m struggling to come up with words.”
The friends and Fed Cup team-mates will meet today in the biggest match of either’s career for a prize of $3.7 million.
“I’ve known her for a long time. She’s one of my closest friends on tour,” Stephens said. “I love her to death. And it’s not easy playing a friend.”
Stephens, who was wearing a walking boot in June and ranked 957th in July, has won 14 of her past 16 matches, with semifinal runs at Toronto and Cincinnati.
“I have no words to describe what I’m feeling, what it took to get here,” Stephens said.
She beat Keys in the second round at Miami in 2015 in their only career meeting.
Now 83rd, Stephens is the lowest-ranked Slam finalist since unranked Justine Henin at the 2010 Australian Open and the lowest at the US Open since unranked Kim Clijsters won the 2009 title.
Stephens, who beat Williams in the first round of the 2015 French Open in their only prior meeting, will jump into the world top 25 next week.
US ninth seed Williams could not overcome 51 unforced errors that doomed her bid to become the oldest women’s singles finalist in US Open history at age 37.
Stephens, 24, is 4-0 in finals, having won in 2015 in Washington and 2016 in Auckland, Acapulco and Charleston. –