Stephens, Venus lose in Australia

Sloane Stephens has now lost all eight matches she’s played since winning her first Grand Slam tennis tournament title in the U.S. Open last year. The

13th seed seemed on her way to posting a victory when she served for the match up 5-4 in the second set of her Australian Open first-round match Monday (Sunday night ET) but was eventually sent packing by Zhang Shuai of China

2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. In another first-round match, fifth seed Venus Williams, a finalist in last year’s Australian Open, was upset by Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-5.