WTA: Sloane Stephens loses again in Asia, Barty beats her double partner

Sloane Stephens is eliminated in the first round of the WTA Premier Tournament in Tokyo. The US Open winner of 2017 lost to Donna Vekic in two sets.

Same procedure as last year. Sloane Stephens has made her Asia tour after a good one, 2018 of course even outstanding. US Open tournament started with a defeat. Stephens lost to Croatian Donna Vekic 4-6 and 4-6 at the WTA premier tournament in Tokyo, an improvement over their meeting in Wimbledon, when Vekic also won round one, 6-1 and 6-3.

Stephens had fallen victim to the heat this time before in New York City and above all Anastasija Sevastova – the quarter-final entry at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year could nevertheless be considered a success. A year ago, Stephens had gone on her trip to Asia as a new major winner – and could not win a single match. Not even in the Fed Cup final in Belarus.

There Coco Vandeweghe succeeded in 2018. Now a US Open winner, she travels the tennis world, albeit “only” as part of the successful double pairing at the US Open. There the spontaneous understanding with Ashleigh Barty was immediately great, this time the Australian found herself on the other side of the net in Vandweghe. Barty won this duel 4:6, 6:3 and 7:5.

Eugenie Bouchard is no longer there: The Canadian, who qualified for the main draw, lost to Alison Riske 4:6 and 4:6.

Here the single tableau in Tokyo