Sloane Stephens records second top-3 victory, defeats Maria Sharapova at Cincinnati Open second round

Sloane Stephens of United States stepped up her game just in time to defeat world number three Maria Sharapova in the second round of competitions at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The American outlasted the Russian 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 on a chilly Tuesday night. This is Stephens’ second victory over a world number three, her first one being at the Australian Open 2013 quarterfinals against then-number three Serena Williams.

“It definitely started out a little rough for me, but I’m glad I was able to turn it around and start playing some good tennis in the second and third sets,” Stephens said. “At the start of the second set I was just going to start going for my shots a little more and hoped they would just go in. I’m glad I started hitting and finding a rhythm. That kind of helped me out for the rest of the match.”

Sharapova was leading 6-2, 2-0 before Stephens improved her play and the Russian started piling up errors. Post-match statistics showed that Sharapova committed 62 unforced errors and 16 winners while Stephens had 51 unforced erros and 20 winners.

“Obviously when you’re playing someone who’s No.3 in the world, you know they’re No.3 for a reason and they’re going to be tough,” she said. “You’ve got to go out and play your hardest. But when you think about it, you’re like, ‘Okay, I’m playing Sharapova.’ Like, you’ve got to get your mind right.”

Sharapova competed in her first tournament since the Wimbledon tournament where she lost in the second round. The Russian hurt her hip in the process and was forced to pull out of tournaments, including the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week.

“Well, I thought I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position you can’t let it go – that’s what I did tonight,” Sharapova said during the post-match conference. “I didn’t continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me. I stopped being patient. I started making a lot more errors, especially off the first ball. Just errors I shouldn’t make. Obviously I haven’t played in a long time, but I’ve got to be ready from the first match. So it’s disappointing, but that’s how it goes in this game.”