Hometown hero Stephens win Miami Open title

In the span of two weeks, Sloane Stephens definitely enjoyed her familiar surroundings.

Playing on her virtual home turf, the South Florida-born Stephens pulled off a mild upset in defeating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (5), 6-1 in Key Biscayne on Saturday afternoon.

The No. 13 seed Stephens relied upon mostly a defensive, bend-but-don’t-break strategy in a 91-minute match featuring long rallies and numerous unforced errors by the sixth-seeded Ostapenko.

With the victory, the 25-year-old Stephens — who spent much of 2017 coming back from a stress fracture injury and surgery last January — will leap from No. 12 to 9 in the WTA singles rankings next week. It will mark the first time that Stephens has cracked the top 10 in her career.

Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champ, will remain No. 5 in the world.

For the reigning U.S. Open champion Stephens, it marked her second biggest tournament title of her career behind last year’s U.S. Open championship. And growing up so close in Plantation and currently living in Fort Lauderdale, made things extra special for Stephens.

“It’s honestly been a dream two weeks here,” Stephens said afterward, addressing the fans. “I always play well in the U.S. I don’t know why. But I think it’s because of you guys. I want to make sure you guys understand how much you help me when I’m out here.”

For both finalists, this Miami Open run helped turn around their 2018 seasons. Stephens (now 6-0 in her career in finals) entered the tourney just 3-4 this year, and the 20-year-old Ostapenko was just 4-7 before failing to lose a set or tiebreak for the entire tournament entering Saturday.

The first set was where the match was truly won by the rangy Stephens and lost on a miscue-filled day for Ostapenko, who had 29 unforced errors in the opening set compared to just 12 for Stephens. Remarkably, Stephens hit just three winners while winning a grueling, 57-minute opening set in a tiebreak.

The set featured numerous service breaks, with Ostapenko the first to actually hold serve to go up 3-2. But Stephens immediately responded by serving a love game to even the first set 3-3.

Stephens kept surviving deep baseline challenges from her opponent, and Ostapenko kept wilting with unforced errors. The tide turned on a key 30-30 point in the seventh game as Stephens desperately sliced again and again to stay in the point, outlasting Ostapenko thanks to one of many returns hit too long by the Latvian.

After Stephens went on to break for a 4-3 lead, Ostapenko’s coach David Taylor tried to settle her down with a pep talk, pushing her pupil to accelerate through the ball and staying aggressive. It worked for the next two points, both winners. But Ostapenko then uncorked four straight errors to go down 5-3.

Ostapenko fought back to 5-5, then forced a tiebreak when Stephens double-faulted on break point. The yips returned again for Ostapenko at 2-2, who shot wide or deep on three successive points. After Stephens’ strong forehand winner to go up 6-2, Ostapenko almost pulled even before faltering in the 57-minute first set.

The second set was more of the same, with the exhaustion and frustration visibly mounting for Ostapenko as she could not strike with the consistency of Stephens, no matter how much harder she crushed the ball.

For the match, Stephens finished with just six winners to 25 for Ostapenko, But the Latvian had 48 unforced errors to only 21 by Stephens.

–Field Level Media