Confident Sloane Stephens downs Osaka

A confident Sloane Stephens stormed to victory yesterday with a commanding third set performance against Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka to highlight another night of stunning upsets at the WTA Finals in Singapore. In an unpredictable encounter, the American overcame a second set stutter to dominate the decider and triumph 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and 25 minutes.

It was followed by another marathon match with number eight seed Kiki Bertens overcoming top-seed Angelique Kerber in a thrilling 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory. The lower seeds have won all four matches to start the WTA Finals. Before yesterday, Osaka had won 14 of her previous 16 matches to be the in-form player coming into the season-finale. But the third seed was wildly inconsistent in the Red Group opener with 46 unforced errors and was broken three times in a third set meltdown.

Stephens handled the warm conditions better to record an impressive victory. “It’s really humid inside the stadium, so it plays a little bit different,” she told reporters. “Obviously playing someone with a lot of confidence is always a tough task, but I think that I played well and I kept a good attitude.” Osaka lamented her error-strewn performance.

“I think I made more unforced errors than her in the third set,” she said. “I don’t really think you can do that against her, so definitely I think that’s what made the difference.” It was a much-anticipated showdown between the past two US Open champions, who were making their WTA Finals debuts. The game got off to a sluggish start with both players struggling to hold serve and few winners being struck before Stephens made her move, aggressively rattling Osaka with deep groundstrokes and pinpointing the lines. A subdued Osaka could not unleash her powerful game and grew frustrated as Stephens drew first blood.