Sunday, June 3, 2018

Stephens rolls into first French Open quarterfinal

   No. 10 seed Sloane Stephens crushed No. 25 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-2, 6-0 in 52 minutes today to reach the French Open quarterfinals for the first time.
   Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product now based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., now has reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments.
   "A lot of girls dream of making quarters or semis, and now that I've done that at all four Slams, that's pretty awesome," Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, told Tennis Channel. "That was definitely a goal, and I'm glad to finally make it through to the quarterfinals here."
   Stephens is scheduled to play either No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or No. 14 Daria Kasatkina of Russia on Tuesday. Kasatkina, 21, led 7-6 (5), 3-3 when the match was suspended by darkness.
   Stephens is 1-1 (1-0 on clay) against Kasatkina and 1-6 (0-0 on clay) against Wozniacki.
   Stephens could meet close friend and fellow Floridian Madison Keys, seeded 13th, in the semifinals in a rematch of last year's U.S. Open final. Keys, who won the final edition of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last August, will meet unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
   In the men's draw, Marco Cecchinato of Italy surprised No. 8 seed David Goffin of Belgium 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
   Cecchinato, ranked 72nd, had been 0-4 in the main draw of Grand Slam tournaments. He will face No. 20 seed Novak Djokovic, the 2016 French Open champion.
   No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany topped unseeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 4-6, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Zverev, 21, has played three consecutive five-set matches. He will take on No. 7 Dominic Thiem of Austria.
   In the third round of women's doubles, No. 3 seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain eliminated unseeded Serena Williams and Venus Williams 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0. Serena Williams is entered in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 30-Aug. 5 at San Jose State.
  In the first round of girls singles, 16-year-old Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area dispatched wild card Yasmine Mansouri of France 6-2, 6-3.
   Volynets, a U.S. Open girls quarterfinalist last year, will take on No. 10 seed Yuki Naito of Japan. Naito beat Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine 6-2, 7-6 (8).

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