By Chris Oddo | Saturday October 27, 2018
Losing eight games to start one of your biggest matches of the season isn’t typically a recipe for a stunning victory, but Sloane Stephens has never been one to follow the status quo.
This is, after all, a woman who won her first major title in a season that started with her polishing her commentating chops while in a walking boot.
On Saturday against Karolina Pliskova she was in a proverbial walking boot but she broke free and ended up winning 12 of the final 15 games to notch an important 0-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory and a spot alongside Elina Svitolina in the Singapore final on her WTA Finals debut.
“I came out here a little bit nervous, and I wasn’t really feeling the ball,” Stephens admitted in her on-court interview. “Obviously, I knew playing Kaja was going to be a really tough match—she was absolutely working me today.”
Stephens, who fell in straight sets to Pliskova this May in Madrid, had to wait her turn in this affair, but she finally connected to get on the board in the ninth game of the match, saving a pair of game points to break for 1-2 and rapidly moved in front 3-2 in the second set.
Stephens was broken back for 3-3 but took three of the final four games of set two to force a decider.
Pliskova netted a backhand on Stephens’ third break point of the first game of the third set and she really never produced the quality of aggression or consistency that would have necessary to challenge Stephens down the stretch.
At times the Czech looked brilliant, powering in behind a crosscourt backhand to punch a volley to the open court, but these magnificent forays were mixed with smatterings of unforced errors that made Stephens job a lot easier.
Pliskova’s best game of the set came to early as she broke to love to level at 1-all with Stephens, but at this point the American was dialed in to the perfect frequency—she played with ease, aggression and was basically untroubled by Kvitova as she swept through the final five games.
Stephens finished with 18 winners against 31 unforced while Pliskova hit 21 winners against 40 unforced.
The American will face Elina Svitolina in a battle of undefeated players in Sunday’s final, and Stephens says that win or lose she’ll take a lot of confidence into the off-season as a result of her stellar performance.
“From what I did this year, I want to continue to build obviously for next year, and I think ending this tournament here, win or finals, I think will help me going into 2019,” she said.