WTA BASTAD, STANFORD and WASHINGTON: Sloane Stephens left searching for answers; Cici Bellis impresses yet again

WTA Bastad (Outdoor Clay):

In a mini-shock, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands battled through a tough opening set to deplete French Open semi-finalist, Kiki Bertens. Mattek-Sands only faced two break points and used her aggressive game style to break Berten’s serve four times. Defending champion and home crowd favorite, Johanna Larsson came through her opening match against compatriot, Rebecca Peterson in straight sets. After a scratchy first set that concluded in a tiebreak, Larsson steadied herself and steam rolled through the second set. Larsson’s serve can be both her best and most challenging shot; as it can produce many service winners but also a great deal of double faults. She came through this match with only three double faults and will need to keep that number low in order to contend for this title. The always tough German, Julia Goerges needed three sets as she rebounded from a first set loss, against Polona Hercog. Although Goerges …

continue reading in source www.tennisworldusa.org