WTA Weekend Recap: Stephens Wins Guadalajara for First Title in Four Years

February 28, 2022 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Stephens_Crop
Photo Credit: Garrett Ellwood/USTA

 

American Sloane Stephens put together her best week of tennis in nearly four years as she defeated Marie Bouzkova 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 to win the Abierto Akron Zapopan title in Guadalajara, Mexico on Sunday.

“It’s the beginning of the season, so there’s still a lot of tennis to be played, but I’m excited to be able to put some matches together,” said Stephens. “Excited that I was able to do that, get a title, and hopefully continue on with that momentum. I think I prepared all last year, I committed to training and my fitness and everything. Obviously I didn’t get results right away, but now seeing that fruits of that labor blossom is nice.”

The title is Stephens first since she won the Miami Open back in 2018, and her seventh title overall.

“I still want to get back to where I was, that’s still really important to me,” she added. “I think it’s possible, it’s doable, so I’m really excited about that.”

Over in Doha, Qatar, Poland’s Iga Swiatek won her first title of the season as she defeated fourth-seeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-0 in the finals on Sunday. The win ended Kontaveit’s nine-match winning streak.

“I’m pretty happy that I was composed and I stayed in the same shape I was for the whole tournament, because playing finals is a different feeling,” said Swiatek. “It’s always a little bit more stress. I knew that Anett is going to play well, because she’s shown consistency throughout the whole six months, I would say. I needed to put pressure on her, and I’m pretty happy that I did that well today.”

Swiatek broke early, only to see Kontaveit break back to even things at 2-2. But that would be all the noise the Estonian would make, as Swiatek won every game from that point forward to cruise to the title, the fourth of her career.

The win moves Swiatek up four spots to No. 4 in the WTA rankings, while Kontaveit is up two spots to No. 5  in the world.

 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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