Sloane Stephens Gets To Week 2
Sloane Stephens got off to a great start; however, these days you never know with Stephens if she is fully there. Of course, there are two players and Yulia Putintseva is a feisty competitor. The Kazakh took the second set and forced a third. I get the feeling Stephens might have her head in the game. Stephens won 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Embed from Getty ImagesSeeds Who Did Not Make It To Week 2
Top American women’s seed, [3] Jessica Pegula, lost in straight sets to [28] Elise Mertens. [7] Andrey Rublev will have nightmares after this match. He won the first two sets, only to lose the match in five sets. What happened? Lorenzo Sonego found inspiration after being handed a bagel in the second set. The Italian dug deep to win 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3.
[13] Hubert Hurkacz lost in five sets to Juan Pablo Varillas. The majors always seem to inspire players, especially those lower ranked. They come out fighting and give everything they have in hopes of capturing the title. En route to the final, they can do damage by knocking out some seeds. Yet, this can be deceiving as some lower ranked players are much better on clay than their higher ranked opponents. I have always felt that clay is the greatest neutralizer, it separates the men from the boys. Varillas won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2.
[14] Cameron Norrie lost for the third time to [17] Lorenzo Musetti. Musetti won 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 and will face [1] Carlos Alcaraz in the next round. [26] Denis Shapovalov lost to Alcaraz in three sets. [27] Irina-Camelia Begu lost to the dangerous floater, Karolina Muchova. Muchova won 6-3, 6-2. Interestingly, Begu had won their two previous encounters. In the battle between the two Anastasias, it was the veteran Pavlyuchenkova who was victorious. [24] Potapova lost 6-4, 3-6, 0-6.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Sloane Stephens turn things around at Roland Garros?
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