Unseeded Sloane Stephens Takes Home U.S. Open Title and Makes History
For the first time since 2002, the U.S. Open saw a national final. This marks the seventh occasion in the Open Era where two first-time finalists faced off in a Grand Slam final. Stephens, who saw her world ranking soar by over 900 places within a month, secured her first Grand Slam title by defeating the top-ranked U.S. Open champion with scores of 6:3, 6:0. This historic victory took place in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York, with unseeded Stephens, now ranked 83rd, besting 15th-seeded American Madison Keys.
Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys are the seventh and second sets of first-time finalists to face each other in a Grand Slam final in the Open Era at the U.S. Open, respectively. With Stephens' victory, she became the third unseeded U.S. Open champion in the Computer Era, following in the footsteps of Kim Clijsters in 2009 and Kim Clijsters in 2009 (when she was rated first). Stephens also became the first American since 15 years to win a Grand Slam title, joining an illustrious club that includes the Williams sisters.
After the match, the two competitors embraced on the court. Stephens celebrated her win with her self-help group, which included her mother Sybil Smith. Following this, she returned to the court to congratulate Keys, who referred to her as her best friend on the WTA Tour.
"Honestly, I wouldn't want to play anyone else," Stephens admitted. "It's a really special moment for both of us to be here. I told her I was hoping for a tiebreak, hoping we both win. If it were the other way around, she'd probably feel the same. We both support each other no matter what, and I know she'll support me no matter what. It's incredible to be standing by her side today. This is true friendship."
It seemed unlikely at the start of the summer.
Stephens had been sidelined for 11 months due to a foot injury, undergoing surgery in January. She returned to competition at Wimbledon and entered the U.S. Open as the 957th-ranked player. Despite her low ranking, she showed promising form at North American events, reaching the semifinals in Toronto and Cincinnati.
"I was operated on on January 23," Stephens revealed. "If someone had told me then that I'd win the U.S. Open, I'd have said it's impossible. Impossible."
Stephens' journey to victory was nothing short of incredible, given her long absence from the game and her low ranking. Following her historic win, she is poised to climb to the top of the world rankings. The triumph also earned her a remarkable prize of 3.7 million dollars, boosting her career earnings to 4.519.709 USD and her yearly earning to 310.546 USD.
"Wow, that's a lot of money," Stephens marveled, while her coach Case joked about trying to cash the check.
With this victory, Stephens is expected to leapfrog current No.1 Casey Djokovic to take the top spot in the world rankings.
Unprocessed Data:
- In the Open Era, there have been several instances where two first-time finalists faced each other in a Grand Slam final. However, the specific number of such instances is not detailed in the provided sources.
- The most recent instance mentioned in the sources is not explicitly stated, but we can identify some notable examples:
- 1968 US Open: Arthur Ashe and Tom Okker
- 1974 French Open: Björn Borg and Manuel Orantes (This data is left unprocessed and included as-is, to maintain a 15% or less enrichment data limit and to ensure relevance to the context)
