Super Stephens rises from the ashes

New York, September 11
Sloane Stephens, sidelined for 11 months by a left foot injury until returning in July, captured her first Grand Slam title by routing fellow American Madison Keys 6-3 6-0 in US Open final. Stephens took a $3.7 million prize from the biggest victory of her career, pitted against one of her closest friends in the first all-US final since 2002 on the New York hardcourts.
“I should just retire now,” Stephens said. “I’ll never be able to top this. Talk about a comeback. Things just have to come together and the past six weeks they really have.” With the 15th victory in her past 17 matches, Stephens became only the fifth unseeded player to win a women’s Slam title —Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko managed the feat at this year’s French Open. The only prior unseeded US Open women’s champion was Kim Clijsters, who came back from retirement to take the 2009 title.
“It’s incredible,” Stephens said. “I had surgery on January 23. If someone told me then I’d win the US Open, it’s impossible I’d say, absolutely impossible. This journey has been incredible and honestly I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
It was the first final set of a US Open women’s championship match where the loser didn’t take a game since Chris Evert beat Evonne Goolagong 6-3, 6-0 in 1976. “I didn’t play my best tennis today and I’m disappointed in that but Sloane was very supportive and if there’s someone I have to lose to today I’m glad it’s her. Sloane is truly one of my favourite people,” said Keys. “If you told me two months ago I’d be holding a US Open finalist’s trophy, I’d have been really happy and proud of myself.”
Keys, seeded 15th, and 83rd-ranked Stephens each fought off injuries to reach the title showdown. Stephens returned at Wimbledon and slid to 957th in world rankings before semifinal runs at US Open warm-ups in Toronto and Cincinnati, while Keys underwent her second wrist surgery after the French Open and won a tuneup title at Stanford. Stephens will jump to 17th in Monday’s world rankings while Keys, who took home $1.825 million as runner-up, will rise to 12th.
Stunning finish
In the first set, Stephens broke to seize a 3-2 lead, Keys swatting a forehand beyond the baseline to surrender the game. Stephens broke again when Keys send a backhand long to take the set after 30 minutes. Keys made 17 unforced errors in the opening set to just two for Stephens, both in the last game.
In the second set, Stephens broke with a forehand crosscourt winner past outstretched Keys to grab a 2-0 edge, then broke again on a double fault for a 4-0 lead. Keys forced triple break point in the fifth game but Stephens saved them all and held to 5-0. The end came after 61 minutes when Keys netted a forehand. Hands on hips, Stephens simply stood for a few seconds with a stunned expression, then smiled and made a tiny fist pump before going to the net to share a teary-eyed hug with Keys.