Scare tactics
Stephens coolly recovers from a second-set letdown to reach Rogers quarterfinals
Sloane Stephens reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup Canadian Open women’s tennis tourney on Thursday, but not before she survived a challenge from qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
Stephens was a 6-2, 7-5 winner, but she had a scare in the second set when Suarez Navarro rallied from a 1-5 deficit to pull even at 5-5.
“I thought I had a little bit of a lapse, but I was happy to get back and win the last two games,” said Stephens. “Obviously, when you play a sport, you’re playing against an opponent. She played a couple of good games, kind of threw me off. I was happy to get through in the end.
“I think she just raised her game a little bit,” said Stephens. “She started playing better. I mean, it was 5-1, yeah, but she held at 5-1. I got broken, whatever.”
Stephens, who had a breakthrough when she won the U.S. Open, said she was prepared to deal with the lapse in her game.
“I don’t think it was a matter of, like, holy hell, it’s going to sh--. Oh, sorry,” said Stephens. “Yeah, it’s just like a couple of good games that she played. Maybe the old me would have kind of freaked out. I was kind of, like: ‘OK, it’s fine, she’s allowed to play well. Just kind of regroup.’ I did that.”
Suarez Navarro is a former top-10 player and is currently No. 27. That should have earned her a spot in the main draw, but she had to qualify because she was a late entry.
Stephens’ quarterfinal opponent will be unseeded Anastasja Sevastova of Latvia. She upset 10th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Ashleigh Barty, the 15th seed from Australia, claimed her spot in the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over unseeded Alize Cornet of France. Barty’s next opponent is Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands who upset eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.
Stephens was fortunate to play her second-round match in the afternoon on Wednesday — she defeated Montrealer Françoise Abanda — but there were four second-round matches that were postponed because of torrential rain and that meant double duty for some of the players.
There’s a rather dumb rule requiring 14 hours of rest overnight, which means the postponed matches were placed in the middle of Thursday’s afternoon session. The problem is that there’s no 14-hour rule when a player has to play two matches in a day and the winners were back on the court after a break of just a few hours.
“Yeah, it’s going to be tough for those girls,” said Stephens. “I think obviously we’ve all been in that situation before, so I’m sure there will be some good matches, there will be some battles. It’s just a lot of tennis.”
One of those battles followed Stephens’ match on centre court as top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania outlasted Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-6 (9), 4-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted three hours and eight minutes over two days. They started Wednesday night and Pavlyuchenko had a 4-3 lead when rain stopped play after 38 minutes.
Halep had three set points before taking the first set tiebreaker 11-9. Pavlyuchenkova broke Halep for a 5-4 lead in the second set and then held her serve to send the match to a third set.
The Russian broke Halep in the opening game of the third set but Halep had breaks in the eighth and 12th games to escape with the victory.
“It was a difficult match because she’s very aggressive,” said Halep. “And, with the wind, I didn’t feel the rhythm, but I fought until the end and I think that’s why I win.”
It was Halep’s first match since Wimbledon and she said she felt “sore all over.” Halep had an easier time in her second match of the day. She defeated Venus Williams, the 13th seed from the U.S. 6-2, 6-2.
Williams injured her left leg in the fourth game of the match. She continued to play but it was obvious she was
Maybe the old me would have kind of freaked out. I was kind of, like: ‘OK, it’s fine, she’s allowed to play well.’ Sloane Stephens
struggling, particularly with her serve.
Williams started her day with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
Halep faces sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France who defeated crowd favourite Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2.
Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who didn’t step on the court until 3:50 p.m., was upset by Aryna
Sabalenka of Belarus 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Sabalenka was back on the court two hours later for a late match against the well-rested Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Britain’s Johanna Konta defeated former No. 1
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-1 to reach the third round.
She didn’t have much left when she returned to the court three hours later and lost to the fifth-seeded defending champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4.