Sloane Stephens Defeats Sharapova

The American teenage tennis player, Sloane Stephens, (19), has defeated Maria Sharapova, (26), the women's world Nr 3 in the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati with 2 - 6, 7 - 6 (7 - 5), 6 - 3.

Sloane Stephens, the women's world Nr 15, had earlier in the year defeated the women's world Nr 1, Serena Williams, at the year's first grand slam, the Australia Open. And now she has added another top 3 player in her trail.

The match started very well for Maria Sharapova, that she took the first at
6 - 2, but the teenager, Sloane, fought back in the second set which turned out to be a thriller, but she won it at 7 - 6 (7 - 5).

Sloane Stephens

Well, it seemed like winning the second set gave her more confidence to even fight harder and challenge every ball return from Sharapova, which paid off for her as she won the third set as well, at 6 - 3.

After the match during the press conference Sharapova said, "I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position, you can't let it go. That's what I did tonight."

"I didn't continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me. I stopped being patient.

"I started making a lot of errors, especially of the first ball. Just errors that I shouldn't make." she said.

Sloane Stephens did not start the match on a good note, infact the first set was a bit rough for her but she was able to come back into the match in the second set. She said, "It definitely started out a little rough for me, but I'm glad I was able to turn it around, and start playing some good tennis, in the second and third sets."

''At the start of the second set, I was just going to start going for my shots, a little more and hope  they would just go in.

"I'm glad I started hitting and finding a rhythm. That kind of helped me out for the rest of the match," she added.

When asked about her double faulting in her first two match points, Sloane said, "I rarely double fault, so for me to double fault twice on both match points was a little flustering, but I was glad to get through it."

"I was like, I never double fault. I can't believe I just double faulted. But I was like, it's fine. Don't worry. It happens to everyone."

The very happy and relieved teenager said of her defeating the four time grand slam winner, Maria Sharapova, "Obviously when you are playing someone who's Nr 3 in the world, you know they are Nr 3 for a reason and they are going to be tough."

"You've got to go out and play your hardest. But when you think it, you're like, okay, I'm playing Sharapova. Like, you've got to get your mind right," she said.

It was very entertaining match. A thriller. It was very beautiful the manner the teenager rallied back in the second and third sets to win the match. This win will give her more confidence after she was defeated in the second round of Rogers Cup last week in Toronto. She is rising rapidly in the sport.