Stephens Wins All-American Battle to Advance to Round of 16
American Sloane Stephens cruised into the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open Friday afternoon, battling past fellow American Jamie Hampton, 6-1, 6-3, in just 63 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Stephens was a semifinalist at the Australian Open and is now 15-3 in majors this year.
“It was tough to play Jamie, a good friend,” Stephens said after her victory. “This year has been a learning process, and I have just improved so much.”
Up next for Stephens is a potential meeting with the top-seeded Serena Williams whom Stephens shocked this past January at the Australian Open.
Also on Friday, the fifth-seeded Li Na and third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the U.S. Open Round of 16, as Li hit 11 aces in a 6-2, 7-5 victory against teenager Laura Robson, avenging her loss to the Briton at last year’s Open. The 31-year-old Li, who saw her opponent hit 30 unforced errors and seven winners, and will advance to face the ninth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up, for a spot in the quarterfinals. Jankovic was a 6-4, 7-6 winner Friday afternoon over Kurumi Nara of Japan.
Li’s best U.S. Open performance was a run to the quarterfinals in 2009. But that is one round better than Radwanska, as the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up made the Round of 16 once again with a 6-4, 7-6(7/1) win over the number 32 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, an Open quarterfinalist in 2011.
"I was really focusing on the important moments, so either the game that I broke her in the end of the first set, and then the tie-break," said Radwanska. "She was definitely serving well, so when she was down, she was really serving well."
Credit all photos to Adam Wolfthal
Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the U.S. Open Round of 16 on Friday after her 6-4, 7-6(7/1) win over the number 32 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Jamie Hampton and fellow American Sloane Stephens shake hands after Stephens’ 6-1, 6-3 win
