Cincinnati [US], August 16 : Sloane Stephens secured her first top-10 win of the season as she defeated the defending champion Caroline Garcia at the ongoing Cincinnati Open in the second round on Tuesday night.
She beat Garcia by 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, as per WTA.
In front of a partisan American audience, world number 38 Stephens broke Garcia a total of five times to make a comeback during the two-hour, 20-minute match and improved her record against the French player to 4-3.
She will be facing either Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova or Anastasia Potapova in the Round of 16.
"I felt like I played really well, I would say consistent, but honestly there is nothing better than playing in the U.S. in front of an American crowd. It was incredible having an incredible audience and atmosphere. I'm really pleased with how I played and getting the win tonight," said Stephens.
Stephens completed the match with 21 winners to 21 unforced errors while Garcia struck 32 winners to 35 unforced errors. Garcia's losing streak has extended to four matches.
The fifth seed Ons Jabeur from Tunisia carried out a remarkable third-set comeback to beat world number 28 Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) in the second round of the competition.
Jabeur finished the match in two hours and 42 minutes, battling down from being 5-1 down in the third set.
Also, after a quarterfinal finish last week, Danielle Collins beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.
With this win, she has set up a meeting with world number 1 Iga Swiatek on Wednesday, which will mark the second time they will play this week. Swiatek had earlier beat Collins in Montreal by 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
World number 22 Donna Vekic also put a stop to her three-match losing streak with a victory over Jennifer Brady. The Croatian registered a 7-6(5), 7-5 win in the first round to face off former champion Victoria Azarenka next.
Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa made a comeback from being one set down to beat world number 14 Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a shocker during the first round. This is Bucsa's best win of her career and will give her a lot of confidence as she goes to face Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the second round.
Varvara Gracheva also defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday in the opening round of the tournament.
Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova and Jelena Ostapenko were also among the winners in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
Unseeded two-time champion at Cincinnati secured a 6-3, 7-5 win over 11th seed Barbora Krejcikova, while the ninth seed beat Anna Blinkova by 7-6(2), 6-0. Ostapenko also secured a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over former No.1 Karolina Pliskova in 1 hour and 49 minutes.
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