Stephens to play Kerber in Singapore

As a major event kicks-off on the WTA tour the fifth seed, Sloane Stephens swept off Kiki Bertens in a late-night match at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore. Both of them battled with a chance to take the apex position at the Red Group. And also proceed to the semifinals. Stephens victory was stretched out till one o’clock in the morning. She battled to get a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 win over Bertens.

“I think we are kind of similar in that we can mix it up a lot and do a lot of different things,” Stephens said. “So I thought that’s why we had so many great points, long points where there were slices and lobs and all types of different things going on. But I think that’s why it was so competitive because we were playing the kind of similar. But it was a tough match. I think it’s not often you play someone who plays kind of similar to you that you have to kind of battle it out and figures it out. It was kind of cool, but I thought we played some really great points. I guess that’s kind of what competing is all about.”

Stephens further continued “You don’t play like back-to-back Top 10 players like in regular tournaments,” Stephens said. “I mean, you can, obviously, but it’s very rare. Like the way seeding works and blah, blah, blah unless you’re in the semis or finals. It’s kind of cool, actually… it won’t happen again for a whole other year, but it’s kind of cool to just play against the best. Like every match is like a final. Yeah. Pretty interesting.”

The American booked her berth in the semifinals and Angelique Kerber’s three-set 6-4 5-7 6-4 win over Naomi Osaka sets up a match between Bertens and Osaka. The reigning US Open champion committed numerous unforced errors and which in turn felicitated the German win. Kerber saved 13 of the 18 break points she faced, and five of them took place in the final game of the first set. “One or two points decided the match,” Kerber said. “We both played at a really high-level tonight. You push yourself to the limits, it’s the last tournament of the year.”