The first day of US Open ended in heartbreaking fashion for an American, as a former tournament champion Sloane Stephens blew a sizable lead en route to another first-round exit.
Stephens won her first set, 6-0, against Clara Burel and led the second, 3-0, before the latter came back collecting Monday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens.
Burel won the second and third sets by 7-5, despite trailing 5-4 in both.
The French-born Burel repeatedly broke Stephen’s serve to complete her improbable comeback. Burel will face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the second round on Wednesday.
Stephens, 31, won the US Open in 2017 but has not advanced past the quarter-finals since then. That 2017 title remains Florida-born Stephens’ lone Grand Slam win.
Monday marked Stephen’s fourth first-round exit out of 13 times competing in the US Open. She lost in three sets to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the opening round last year.
This year’s loss came hours after fellow American – and defending US Open champion – Coco Gauff prevailed 6-2, 6-0 in the first round against Varvara Gracheva.
Gauff, who is also from Florida, suffered a summer slumpdropped tough matches at the French Open and the Olympics before being upset in the first round of the Cincinnati Open – a tournament she won last year – by unranked Yulia Putintseva this month.
“The last few weeks were tough, and I was like, ‘I have to do this and do that, but I don’t have to prove anything to anyone but myself,'” Gauff, 20, said Monday.
“I’ve got a lot of years back here and I’m not going to win every year,” she said. “Just that perspective and just having the belief that I can — but not the expectation that I should.”
With News Wire Services
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