Former US Open champion knocked out in first round after dramatic collapse
Sloane Stephens suffered a first-round defeat at the US Open after twice serving for the match against Clara Burel and winning the first nine games.
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, has been knocked out of this year's tournament following a first-round defeat to Clara Burel on Day 1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Stephens, now 31 and ranked 45th in the world, was given a prime slot as the first game of the evening session at the iconic court.
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She started off strong, winning the first set 6-0 and going 3-0 up in the second set. However, she suffered a dramatic collapse, losing 6-0 5-7 5-7 to the resilient French star Burel.
Despite serving for the match twice - once in the second set and once in the third set - Stephens was unable to secure victory.
This marks the second consecutive year that Stephens has been eliminated in the first round of her home Grand Slam. Last year, she was defeated by Beatriz Haddad Maia in her first game.
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Although she won the tournament against Madison Keys in 2017, she has not progressed beyond the third round since reaching the quarter-finals in 2018.
Burel, meanwhile, advances in the tournament and will be aiming to progress beyond the third round, where her journey has ended in each of the past two years. She is set to face No.20 seed Victoria Azarenka on Wednesday.
Elsewhere Keys, who lost to Stephens in the 2017 final, has safely advanced to the second round. She defeated Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-1 and will play Maya Joint in the next round.
Keys said: "I think especially in the second set, breaking and then getting broken back, I think I did a really good job to kind of quickly get back on track and be able to close out the match pretty cleanly.
"I always love coming back to New York. I have some absolutely amazing experiences here. I think being an American playing in front of an American crowd, there's really no other feel like that.
"It's definitely the loudest, rowdiest crowd that you can play in front of. Being in so many scenarios here where they've really pushed me through, I always feel really great coming to the U.S. Open."
