US Open 2018: Sloane Stephens knocked out by Anastasia Sevastova

Defending champion Sloane Stephens’ bid for a second consecutive US open title was brought to a halt as she ended her campaign following a loss to Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

It was payback for Sevastova who had to exit from the same tournament last year after Stephens had knocked her out in the same round. Stephes also has herself to blame as she squandered a lot of opportunities to take an early lead in the game. Speaking after the match, Stephens, as quoted by The Indian Express, said, “You don’t win matches when you don’t take your opportunities.”

Sevastova, the Latvian who just made the semi-final of a Grand Slam event for the very first time would either face Karolina Pliskova or Serena Williams.

It was the year once again which draw focus at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as Stephens wasn’t quite able to produce her sideline-to-sideline coverage in the court.

However she had a bigger issue to address in her serves. Broken five times in the entire match that lasted for 85 minutes, Stephens’ anger and frustration levels looked to be on the rise as it was quite evident when she shouted, “I’m trying!” in an answer to someone from the crowd who asked her to take the fight to Sevastova in the second set.