Sloane Stephens books place in Mexico Open quarter-finals
Thursday 1 March 2018 13:29, UK
US Open champion Sloane Stephens booked her place in the Mexico Open quarter-finals after a hard-fought victory over Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus.
The top seed won 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-0 but not before surprisingly dropping the first set and going on to save a match point in the second-set tiebreak.
The second set proved to be the most gruelling, with Stephens fighting three break points in the first game and struggling with errors on her forehand to keep Rus in with a chance to claim the match.
At the tie-break, it looked as though Rus would again triumph as she leaped to 4-1, but Stephens brought it back to 6-6 and ultimately had the stronger serve to see out the set.
Stephens' experience appeared to lead her through the final set as Rus' momentum faltered, winning just seven points.
The American has now advanced to her first quarter-final since her US Open triumph, and will now face Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele, who defeated Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-4.
Like Stephens, second seed Kristina Mladenovic also had to come from a set down before beating Beatriz Haddad Maia 3-6 6-3 7-5
No 3 seed Daria Gavrilova, meanwhile, booked her place in the last eight after defeating Renata Zarazua 7-5 6-3.
The Australian at times looked to make hard work of the match, hitting three double faults at 4-2 up in the first set, but too many unforced errors from Zarazua gave Gavrilova the chance to organise her serve and seal the victory.
Fourth seed Shuai Zhang also advanced through the second round, beating Jil Teichmann 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, while fifth seed Irina Camelia Begu suffered an upset, losing 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to Veronica Cepede Royg.
Elsewhere in Acapulco, there were also wins for seventh seed Lesia Tsurenko and qualifier Rebecca Peterson.
You can watch the Tie Break Tens tournament live from Madison Square Gardens in New York on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Mix from midnight on Monday, and don't forget you can watch repeats on Sky Sports Action from midday on Tuesday and 7pm on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Mix.
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