Sloane Stephens Advances to Aegon Classic Quarterfinals

American Sloane Stephens advanced to the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic on Thursday, defeating fellow American Alison Riske, 7-6(4) 2-6, 6-1. Riske, who is the fourth highest ranked American behind the Williams sisters and Stephens, is one of the rising American stars on the women’s side and provided a tough challenge for the third-seeded Stephens.

Each player would exchange points on their own serves as the first set see-sawed to 4-4 in the tiebreak, when Stephens nailed the baseline with a backhand return to seize the first set. Riske countered nicely in the second set, however, and used an early break point to jolt her to a 6-2 second set victory, evening the match and forcing a third-set tiebreaker.

Despite the momentum seemingly on Riske’s side, Stephens regained control in the third set and jumped out to 3-0 thanks to a few fantastic return shots that spoiled Riske’s serves. Up 5-1, Stephens forced Riske to send a forehand return long and sealed the three-set victory to move into the Aegon Classic’s quarterfinals.

The 21-year old Stephens now moves on to the quarters where she will meet China’s Zhang Shuai. The ninth-seeded Shuai cruised to her third-round victory over the Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska, 6-0, 7-6(8-6) on Thursday.

Cetkovska struggled with her serve all match and allowed Shuai to jump on her early. The Czech smashed five double-faults into the net, never allowing herself to utilize her serve and put Shuai back on her heels. She saved six of her eight break point opportunities and played mistake-free tennis, which allowed her to move into the final eight at the Aegon Classic in Great Britain.

Also in action on Thursday were two more Americans, Lauren Davis and Coco Vandeweghe, who were seeking to mix up the field by pulling off some shockers. Davis’ upset effort came up short as she ran into top-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia & Montenegro, who cruised to the 6-1, 6-1 straight-set victory. Vandeweghe dropped the last two sets of her match after winning the first, falling to sixth-seeded Czech Klara Koukalova 6-3, 6-7(7-3), 6-4.