Stephens beats Bouzkova in Guadalajara to win first title since 2018
Feb 28, 2022
Guadalajara [Mexico], February 28 : Sloane Stephens ended a nearly four-year title drought by besting Marie Bouzkova to claim the Abierto Zapopan crown on Sunday. It is the seventh career WTA singles title for Stephens. Kaitlyn Christian and Lidziya Marozava captured the doubles title.
The No.6 seed from the United States defeated Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 to claim the title at the Abierto Zapopan.
World No.57 Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion and a former World No.3, claimed her seventh career title with a challenging 2-hour and 28-minute victory over 96th-ranked Bouzkova.
Stephens was undefeated in the first six WTA singles finals of her career, which included a Grand Slam championship at the 2017 US Open and a WTA 1000 crown at Miami in March of 2018.
But since that victory in Miami almost four years ago, Stephens had gone 0-3 in her last three finals. Moreover, Stephens had not reached a final since her appearance in the championship match of the year-ending WTA Finals in 2018.
Earlier on Sunday, the doubles title was won by No.3 seeds Kaitlyn Christian of the United States and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus, who defeated the all-Chinese pairing of Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin 7-5, 6-3.
But Christian and Marozava were too strong in the final, prevailing in an hour and 21 minutes. The victors converted seven of their 12 break points and won exactly two-thirds of points returning second serves in the match.
