American Sloane Stephens has caused a huge surprise at the Western & Southern Open after recording a three-set win over Maria Sharapova.
The Russian was playing in her first match under the watchful eye of new coach Jimmy Connors, but she was dumped out by Stephens by a 2-6 7-6 6-3 scoreline.
The world number three dominated the opening set, breaking the serve of Stephens twice in racing to an early advantage.
However, Stephens fought back in the second, exchanging breaks of serves with Sharapova before edging through a tie-break.
Sharapova made plenty of unforced errors, taking her total to over 60 for the three-set encounter, and that continued in the decider, which allowed Stephens to break twice and move through to the next round.
Written by
Darren Plant
Darren Plant
