Stephens beats Williams to reach U.S. Open final
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[September 08, 2017]
By Julien Pretot
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new grand slam
champion will be crowned at the U.S. Open after Sloane Stephens beat
fellow American Venus Williams 6-1 0-6 7-5 in a rollercoaster of a
semi-final on Thursday.
Stephens, who returned to competition at Wimbledon after nearly a
year off because of a foot injury, recovered from a second-set
meltdown to end ninth seed Williams's hopes of reaching a third
major final this year.
She will meet either CoCo Vandeweghe or Madison Keys, who face each
other later on Thursday, in an all American final.
"I have no words to describe what I'm feeling what it took to get
here. The journey I took. I have no words," said Stephens, who
underwent foot surgery last February.
"If someone told me I'd make two semis and a grand slam final this
year I would have passed out, which is what I feel like doing now.
"I don't know how I got here. Hard work, that's it."
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The 24-year-old Stephens, 13 years younger than Williams, paid
tribute to the seven-time grand slam champion.
"I'm honestly just honored to play at the same time as her. One of
the greatest to ever play our game. She's one of the greatest
competitors and I'm honored to share the court with her and glad to
play at the same time as her.
"For American tennis there's no question marks. The proof is in the
pudding. American tennis, here we are."
Despite her lack of match play this year, Stephens began confidently
and broke for 3-1 when Williams netted a routine forehand and then
went on to win the last three games of the set as the 37-year-old
strangely appeared to struggle with serve.
Williams was in danger again on her first service game in the second
set but she managed to hold and broke in the next game thanks to a
Stephens double fault.
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Sloane Stephens of the United States reacts after defeating Venus
Williams of the United States. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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She then held to love to stamp her domination on the
second set and moved 4-0 up with a lovely service return followed by
a routine volley as Stephens showed she was clearly struggling and
lost the set to love when she hit yet another unforced error.
The 24-year-old, however, got back on track in the decider, taking a
1-0 lead on Williams serve when she netted an easy volley.
She saved two break points in the following game but Williams
leveled for 2-2 when Stephens's forehand sailed wide.
But at the end of a seven-minute game, Williams netted a routine
volley again to give her opponent a break for 4-3.
Williams broke straight back with a service return winner and she
saved a break point to hold for 5-4.
But as Williams struggled with her volley, Stephens broke for love
in the 11th game and followed up on serve to close it out as
Williams netted a backhand.
"It was definitely a contrast of play," Williams said of the
roller-coaster match.
"You know, I continued to play aggressive and continued to play the
kind of match that it takes to win. Just made too many errors there
at the end."
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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