Posted by Bess: So last night (American time), Sloane Stephens cemented her place in the Top 20 and in the collective conscience of the tennis world, beating the de facto world number one and the odds-on favorite to win the tournament... the one... the only... Serena Williams.
The first time Serena had lost to a lower ranked American... or something like that.
Now, Serena was dealing with one or more injuries which really hampered her play for a short while toward the end of the second and beginning of the third sets. But I really felt like she was going to will herself to win, as she's done so many times before. Especially after Sloane clearly tightened up at the end of the second set.
But I'll be gosh darned. Sloane pulled it off! She remained calm, stuck to her game plan and--in the end--did not allow herself to be intimidated by the situation.
Good on you, Sloane Ranger!
Can we pause for a moment to discuss how fun Twitter makes live sporting events... especially when you're watching at home alone? If you're following the right people, it can greatly enhance your viewing experience.
My favorite exchange from last night:
They flashed back to a recent match between Sloane and Serena, in which Sloane was complaining to her coach that Serena aggressively yelling "COME ON" after winning points was getting to her. She deemed the continued outbursts, "so disrespectful."
At one point in last night's match, a frustrated Serena slammed her racquet on the court, rendering it a mangled mess. Sports Illustrated's Courtney Nguyen tweeted: Sloane holds to 2-1 and Serena vaporizes her racket. Said the racket, "So disrespectful."
After LOLing at that, I responded, "If only Sloane had yelled COME ON after Serena smashed her racquet."
No clue if Courtney even saw my tweeted response, but I managed to crack myself up, which was all that really mattered.
If you're keeping score at home, I'm having a one-way blogging conversation and a one-way Twitter conversation related to this tournament. Unclear if this can get any more pathetic. But it's still fun.
Oh. And for the record... there was another barn-burner this morning, which I was happy to see the end of as I was getting ready for work. Federer/Tsonga going five sets in an entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable match.
Fed pulled it out in the end, and offered another pseudo-stand-up routine in lieu of a post-match interview. Dude seems unusually punchy this tournament. To quote my friend Debbie, I very like it.
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