Australian Open: Sloane Stephens bows out as Jelena Ostapenko beats Francesca Schiavone
Updated
Remember Sloane Stephens? Since her US Open breakthrough triumph, she hasn't won a single match, and that poor form has cost her as she bowed out of the Australian Open at the first hurdle.
Stephens looked to be on course for a form-correcting win over China's Zhang Shuai, breezing through the first set, but ultimately found the going too tough in a 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 loss on Margaret Court Arena.
The American was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, only for world-number-34 Zhang to hit back and win in a tie-break, setting up her third-set assault.
Since her win over Madison Keys in the Flushing Meadows decider, Stephens has now lost gone through a horrible winless run, losing four losses in three tournaments in China, both her ties in the Fed Cup final under US colours, as well as a first-round exit at the Sydney International.
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko got her Australian Open campaign off to the perfect start, however, beating Italy's Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.
Ostapenko, the first Latvian to win a grand slam after last year's heroics at Roland Garros, breezed past the 2010 French Open winner 6-1 in the first set, before fighting to take out the second set 6-4, in a match that lasted just under 75 minutes.
Ostapenko will meet the winner of China's Ying-Ying Duan, who beat Colombia's Mariana Duque-Marino inside an hour 6-0, 6-1.
German 12th seed Julia Georges was similarly untroubled, advancing to the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over USA's Sofia Kenin.
France's Alize Cornet eased past Chinese wildcard 6-4, 6-2, while Slovakia's Magdelena Rybarikova beat American Taylor Townsend 6-0, 7-5.
Topics: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
First posted
