By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, March 29, 2018
Streaks don't scare Sloane Stephens.
Neither do Grand Slam champion opponents.
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In a battle of major champions, Stephens slashed through 12 of the last 13 games grinding down a weary a Victoria Azarenka, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, to surge into the Miami Open final.
Down a set and 0-2, Stephens stepped closer to the baseline and used her speed and forehand to bang through 10 straight games and the former world No. 1 for the second time this month following a 6-1, 7-5 victory at Indian Wells.
"I just knew I had to keep fighting," Stephens told ESPN's Rennae Stubbs afterward. "In the first set, I was down but I came back and I battled really well. I ended up winning a lot of games in a row and just tried to keep the momentum going."
Following her Flushing Meadows triumph, Stephens suffered an eight-match losing streak. Now, she's streaking again.
Stephens stormed into her sixth career final, including her fourth championship match on American soil.
"It's a semifinal and you're playing someone who is an incredible player, had amazing results, and been No. 1 in the world," Stephens said. "Obviously getting a win over her is incredible, and I think that I knew that I was going to have to fight and do a whole bunch of stuff today. I think I did that pretty well. When it wasn't going my way, I just made sure I kept my head up and I kept playing."
The US Open champion carries a 5-0 career finals record into Saturday's final against either Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko or 93rd-ranked American qualifier Danielle Collins.
Today's first semifinal was a tale of two different matches with Azarenka controlling the first half of the match before she hit the physical wall and a sharper Stephens commanded the second half of the match. Afterward, Azarenka said she'd been bothered by a hip flexor issues.
"I honestly didn't feel good at all the whole match," Azarenka said. "I felt like I was a little bit too slow. It's just I was fresher in the first set and getting to the ball at the right time.
And then I stopped getting to the ball. I stopped hitting the ball the way I should be hitting the ball. You know, she's gonna jump on it. She had great shots. She played well. She pushed me. She took all the opportunities she had. I had so many, still, still had so many opportunities in the second set, and I didn't take them. So it's my fault."
Stalking the baseline, Azarenka came out striking with clean conviction breaking at 15 to open the match. Azarenka worked through a deuce game tomahawking a bounce smash to back up the break.
An aggressive Azarenka torched a forehand down the line to snatch the double break. The former No. 1 won eight of the first 10 points played on Stephens' serve surging out to a 3-0 lead.
Midway through the set, Stephens started doing less chasing and more dictating in baseline rallies. Breaking in the fourth game, she withstood a long, draining game holding for 2-3.
The 12th-ranked American reeled off her third straight game only to see Azarenka drive her backhand down the line with vigor earning her third break for 4-3.
Azarenka closed net thumping a smash to seal a challenging eighth game then broke at love winning six straight points for a one-set lead after 46 minutes.
Deadlocked at 2-all in the second set, Azarenka denied triple break point despite clock in some pedestrian first serves at less than 80 mph. Stephens slid backhand pass down the line that caught the sideline for a fourth break point then smacked a forehand to break for 3-2.
Recent inactivity was revealed in Azarenka's increasingly shaky service games.
In an effort to avoid second serves, the Belarusian was often spinning her first serve in at second-serve speeds. Stephens began ripping her forehand return with more vigor and controlling the center of the court.
The woman in pale pink broke again for 5-2 when Azarenka dragged a backhand wide. Stephens served out her sixth straight game to force a decider.
Winless on all nine of her second-serve points in the second set, Azarenka took a seven-minute break to change her clothes and perhaps the momentum.
The restroom break did not result in a reset.
Griping to chair umpire Marija Cicak about chatter coming from Stephens' support box, Azarenka looked unsettled, couldn't summon much sting on serve and was clutching at her left leg at times. None of that mattered much to Stephens, who rapped a running forehand crosscourt breaking to open the decider with her seventh straight game.
"Can you please do something because it's been going on for two sets," Azarenka said to Cicak after dropping serve.
Dictating play with her forehand, Stephens was straddling the baseline, driving the ball deep and cracking drives into the corners off both wings.
"It's the same guy all the time," Azarenka said after a fan applauded one of her faults in the third game.
While a frustrated Azarenka was distracted by the noise, a focused Stephens earned her ninth consecutive game.
The three-time Miami Open champion finally stopped the avalanche at 10 games holding for 1-4.
The 25-year-old Stephens closed her third straight win over a Grand Slam champion—following straight-sets wins over Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber—advancing to her first final since the US Open last September.
"I thought it was a really great match," Stephens said. "Some of you might not agree, but I thought that we played some really good points. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm happy to be in the final. I think anyone would be. Hopefully I take that good tennis into Saturday's final."