Sloane Stephens Upsets No. 9 Seed Karolina Pliskova in Straight Sets in 2R of French Open 2021

With the main draw of the French Open 2021 well underway, fans are being treated to some splendid tennis action on the daily. In her second round match at the tournament, former Grand Slam winner Sloane Stephens was up against former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

Prior to today, they have faced each other on four occasions and the tie has been dominated by the American. At the end of today’s match, which lasted a little over 90 minutes, Stephens emerged as the victor with a scoreline of 7-5 6-1.

Set 1: Sloane Stephens draws first blood

The American player began proceedings in the match by breaking her opponent in the first game. She consolidated the break and took an early 2-0 lead. In the sixth game, Karolina Pliskova broke back and leveled things up.

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Sloane Stephens broke in the next game and saw herself in the driver’s seat at 5-3. However, Pliskova had other plans and broke again to put the match on level terms at 5-5.

An hour into the match, Stephens took the opening set 7-5. The Czech player was highly disappointed at not being able to capitalize on her opportunities; she felt frustrated and even threw her racquet on the clay surface.

Set 2: Karolina Pliskova loses focus and pays a heavy price

Similar to the previous set, the American athlete took a 2-0 lead after breaking early on. Unfortunately, Karolina couldn’t match up the ante of her opponent and handed a second break opportunity.

The number of unforced errors only increased as the set went on. She hit 13 unforced errors which dented her chances of staying alive in the match. 31 minutes into the set, Stephens broke her opponent for the third time, winning 6-1.

Overall, in the entire match, the Czech international registered 38 unforced errors, which is unaffordable against a player of Sloane’s quality.

The American player looked in good form and has beaten tricky opponents in the first couple of matches. She will now face the 18th seed Karolina Muchova in the third round at the French Open 2021. It will be interesting to see how she performs.

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Hi Mom 👋#RolandGarros | @SloaneStephens pic.twitter.com/ooRx3tLvpR

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2021