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By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 24, 2019

 
Tatjana Maria

Tatjana Maria shocked defending champion Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-2, charging into the Miami Open round of 16.

Photo credit: Lindsey Godwin/Miami Open

MIAMI—Sloane Stephens regards the Miami Open as her home tournament.

Tonight the fourth-seeded Stephens looked as disorientated as a woman returning home to find all the furniture in her home rearranged: everything once familiar looked oddly out of place.

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Tatjana Maria disoriented Stephens with an array of angled slice then dumped the defending champion out of the Miami Open with a stunning 6-3, 6-2, conquest to advance to the Miami round of 16.

“It’s amazing,” Maria told a small group of journalists immediately afterward. “I still really cannot believe it. It feels great it’s so nice that after Australia when I played on the center court I didn’t play my best tennis. So I was so happy today that I can show what I can do. That I won at the end I’m super happy.”

A sullen Stephens smashed her racquet in disgust in the opening set, struggled to summon the energy necessary to rally, never really found her range or rhythm and summed up her demise simply.

“I just played a bad match and she played well and that’s never good combo,” Stephens said. “She’s a great player, she plays a lot of variation and she just played the better match today.”




Winless in two prior meetings with the former US Open champion, the 62nd-ranked German credited her husband and coach, Charles, for devising the game plan she executed to pick Stephens apart. 

"My husband did a really good job studying everything and he told me how to play and I did it," Maria said. "I think from every match you learn something. For sure it was helping me that I played her already twice so I knew a little bit what to expect. I was happy today that I could really find my game and that I wasn’t too passive. I changed a little bit the rhythm."

The victory vaults Maria into her first career Premier level round of 16 where she will play Marketa Vondrousova for a quarterfinal spot.


It was Maria's fourth career Top 10 victory and she made the 93-minute triumph look relatively routine. 

The 31-year-old German, who knocked off 29th-seeded Camilia Giorgi in her opener, cruised through the opening set committing just six unforced errors compared to 17 for the former US Open champion, who was spraying shots. 

It's a home tournament for both women: Maria, her husband and coach, Charles, and their five-year-old daughter, Charlotte, live in Florida. Maria is friendly with eight-time champion Serena Williams and the pair have held play dates for their daughters.

At the urging of her husband and coach, she changed her backhand from a two-hander to a one-hander at the advanced age of 26. 

"I changed my backhand when I was pregnant and now Charlotte is five so it was five years ago," Maria said. "Actually it’s my backhand so I feel like I played nothing else. So that’s the good thing. You need people around you like I have with my husband to trust and to go for it and that’s what we did and it’s working out well."

Initially, the change didn't exactly proceed as smoothly as Dominic Thiem or Pete Sampras' change from two-handed backhands to one-hander.

In fact, Maria said the first two shots she ever hit with a one-hander didn't even make it to net.

"I mean the first two balls I hit them right at my feet so it was not really easy," Maria said of the transition. "But it was helping me because I was playing a lot of slice so maybe my legs were used to this position. It’s not easy. You need a lot of confidence and belief and I’m happy I did it." 

Varying the angle and depth of her slice and unloading some heavy forehands the Mallorca champion extender her lead to 6-3, 3-1.

Barking at her box between points Stephens snapped off a smash then held for 2-3, but that was the champion's last stand.

While Stephens owns all-court skills and a solid volley, she's often reluctant to move forward from her comfort zone behind the baseline even when Maria baited her with mid-court balls. 

The fourth seed curled a crosscourt forehand to save a second match point. Maria answered with an ace wide for match point three then drove a forehand down the line and thrust her arms toward the sky mistakenly believing it was over.

Replay showed the ball wide, but Maria reset and closed on her fourth match point when Stephens sailed a backhand.

"It was horrible because you think it’s over, but it’s not so I said to myself okay it doesn’t matter we start from the beginning and thank God I did right away the next point," Maria said. "So it was helping me to regroup right away and I was so happy at the end it was really done."

 

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