Stephens, Sock spark hope for U.S. on dirt of Paris

4:20 PM ET

PARIS — Sloane Stephens is barely 23 years old, somewhere in the neighborhood of a typical college senior.

But, for reasons of her own doing, the Coral Springs, Florida, resident has been living with immense expectation since her final months as a teenager. Three years ago, she shocked the tennis world with a semifinals appearance at the Australian Open.

In the 12 subsequent Grand Slam tournaments, Stephens has failed to equal that monumental achievement. In fact, it had been nearly a year since she won a major match until Monday’s 6-4, 6-3 first-round victory over Margarita Gasparyan.

“Thanks for the reminder,” the No. 19-seeded Stephens said dryly. “I didn’t know. Yeah, it’s nice. I’m excited to be in the second round again.”

Sloane Stephens entered the French Open with three titles to her name in 2016. Julian Finney/Getty Images

Jack Sock was one of four fellow Americans to join her there — it just took him nearly a day to do it.

That’s because his Sunday match with Robin Haase was interrupted by weather and darkness. After winning the first two sets, Haase caught fire and won the next two frames, the last a tiebreaker in the driving rain.

Sock, the No. 23 seed, was admittedly not happy with this development, but managed to regroup and arrive on Court 2, following a two-hour rain delay, with a positive outlook. He won the fifth set with relative ease and escaped with a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory.

In real time, it ran 3 hours, 15 minutes.

“Happy to get through this one,” he said afterward. “Other than the playing the US Open Series, I love this time of year. My weapons are used to their best ability here.”

Which, like Stephens, makes him an anomaly as far as U.S. players are concerned. Typically, the fortnight at the French …

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