By Chris Oddo | Wednesday October 24, 2018
WTA Finals debutante Sloane Stephens sits atop the Red Group standings after her three-set victory over Kiki Bertens on Wednesday in Singapore.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Break out your calculators, the WTA Finals is getting complicated.
Sloane Stephens surged to the top of the Red Group standings on Wednesday with a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 victory over Kiki Bertens, but the American still has some work to do to officially qualify for the semifinals at the year-end championships.
Stephens, 2-0 in the competition thus far, is the only undefeated player left in a group that also consists of Bertens (1-1), Angelique Kerber (1-1) and Naomi Osaka (0-2), but all four players have a mathematical shot of claiming one of the semifinal spots during action on Friday, when Stephens meets Kerber and Osaka faces Bertens.
But make no mistake about it—Stephens has been the best player in the Red Group and she proved that today by battling back from a break down in the final set to snap Bertens’ streak of nine consecutive victories against Top 10 players.
“I’m so happy, so relieved, that was such a great match,” Stephens said on court after the victory which ended well after midnight, adding, “Whoah, it’s late.”
Stephens won a nip-and-tuck opening set in 51 minutes, taking a tiebreaker 7-4.
But Bertens bounced back and took charge in the second set 6-2, winning 16 of 22 return points and breaking four times on five opportunities.
Stephens looked to be headed to a difficult defeat when she fell behind 2-0 in the decider, but she stiffened her resolve and made things extremely tough for Bertens by ratcheting up her world-class defense on the slow-playing hardcourts in Singapore.
It paid dividends, immediately.
She would run away with the match, reeling off five of the final six games to improve to 2-0 lifetime against the Dutchwoman.
Afterwards, Stephens says that the seventh game of the lopsided second set actually paved the way for her comeback.
“I think it actually was that 5-1 game,” she said. “When I was down I was like I’m going to play this game like I want to play the entire third set and I think I did that. I kind of got myself going a little bit there and I just tried my best from the very first point of the third set—it didn’t go my way immediately but I just kept battling and I’m just really pleased to be through.”
Stephens will reach the semis with a win on Friday, and if she loses she still has a chance to reach to advance. Bertens qualifies automatically with a straight-sets win but if she wins in three she is not a lock.
See the full complex scenarios for both groups in Singapore below: