Stephens back on her feet and rolls past Barty to reach the fourth round
She was off WTA Tour nearly a year with stress fracture
NEW YORK >> The sun shines brightly on the temporary version of Louis Armstrong Stadium, an aluminum structure erected near a parking lot at the U.S. Open this year while the real thing undergoes renovations. All that reflective surface causes spectators to squint a bit harder as soon as they walk into the venue.
On Friday, Sloane Stephens might’ve blinded a few people in the place.
Upon beating the Australian Ashleigh Barty, 6-2, 6-4, in a tidy third-round match, Stephens flashed a brilliant smile that registered all the excitement of notching another significant step in a comeback that has pivoted from long awaited to improb- ably speedy. The pro-Ameri- can crowd that had filled the intimate court with cheers more appropriate for the first weekend of college football — they belted the bass line from the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” not exactly common at a tennis match — returned all of that emotion in kind.
The unseeded Stephens advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2015 French Open. She will face 30thseeded Julia Goerges of Germany, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Serbian Aleksandra Krunic.
Stephens will arrive there behind strong play that has impressed tennis fans, if not downright surprised them. She is still in the early stages of a comeback after spending 11 months off the WTA Tour while she recovered from a foot injury she suffered at the Rio Olympics last August. A stress fracture in a bone on top of her left foot required surgery in January, and Stephens didn’t play again until Wimbledon in July.
The bubbly 24-yearold suffered through firstround exits at Wimbledon and the Citi Open in Washington before resuming her career as though the injury never happened at all.
“I’m not gonna say it’s not totally surprising. I don’t think anyone expected me to play this well or have the results that I did,” Stephens said earlier in the week after triumphing in a threeset match in the secondround. “I’m not gonna say, ‘Oh, I knew this was gonna happen,’ not by any means. I just knew that I worked really hard and hopefully something like this would happen, and it did.”
• Serena Williams earned her latest title — mom — on Friday when she reportedly gave birth to a baby girl at a Florida hospital, according a WPBF-25 news report.
• On the day of the birth of her niece, Venus Williams is into the fourth round of another major after beating Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-3, 6-4. The No. 9 seed reached the second week for the seventh straight major, the longest active streak in women’s tennis.
• American Sam Querrey is through to the round of 16, equaling his best performance at Flushing Meadows. The 17th-seeded Querrey blasted 19 aces and 49 winners on his way to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Radu Albot of Moldova.
• John Isner, the highest-ranked American man, is out. Mischa Zverev, the 23rd seed from Germany, ousted the No. 10 Isner 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Zverev never lost his serve and took advantage of 41 unforced errors by Isner.
• Past champ Marin Cilic made 80 unforced errors and was beaten by 29thseeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. Cilic won the 2014 title. His loss means there will be a first-time Grand Slam finalist this year from the bottom half of the draw. Only one man left on that side of the bracket has even made it as far as the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament.
The Associated Press contributed to this report