Sloane Stephens has spent the past two and a half years answering questions about whether she should keep playing. On Sunday in Oklahoma, she answered them with a trophy. The 33-year-old defeated 16-year-old Kristina Liutova 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the ITF W100 Edmond event.

It was her first title since the WTA 250 level in Rouen in 2024, and 11th professional singles title. The result lifts her 15 places to No. 118, her highest ranking since February 2025. She began this season outside the top 1,000. 

The victory is even more special because of her opponent. Liutova is one of the most talked-about young talents who won the Memphis Classic on her WTA main-draw debut as a qualifier in July. Her run included a win over the top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who retired mid-match while the Russian was leading 5-4 in the deciding set. 

The Russian was the youngest player on tour to win a tour-level title and the youngest champion since Coco Gauff in 2019. She began the season ranked 714th and also arrived in Edmond with W100 titles from Indian Harbour Beach and Sumter this year. The final was their first meeting, and Liutova will still rise to No. 110 on Monday. 

There is a 17-year age gap between the two players, representing two different stages of their careers. Stephens took the first set 6-3 and then closed out the second 6-2. It was a well-composed performance from the former US Open champion, who is rebuilding her game from scratch. 

Stephens won the 2017 US Open and the 2018 Miami Open, reached the 2018 French Open final, and climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 3. It’s a long road from those heights, but winning a W100 event is also a reminder of how far she has come back. 

The title ends one of the longest droughts of her career, but the road back has been much tougher.

Stephens’ climb back from outside the Top 1,000

Stephens’ fall was steep. The foot injury kept her sidelined for seven months, and when she came back, she was outside the top 1,000. Her comeback began with a 13-match losing streak. The defeats led to speculation that she may retire when the 2026 season started, as she had not won a match since Wimbledon 2024. 

The turnaround started in January. She reached the main draw of the Australian Open through qualification rounds, beating Barbora Palicova and Lucia Bronzetti. It was the first time in two years that she won three matches in a row since 2024.

She later received a wild card into the US Open, where she was one of two former champions given spots, along with Venus Williams. At Cincinnati, she beat 24th seed Anastasia Potapova before losing to Marta Kostyuk in the third round.

This fall she has taken a more pragmatic path. Instead of traveling to Asia, Stephens stayed in the United States to play $100,000 events, with Edmond followed by New Braunfels, Texas. She was not in a great ranking position and wanted to try to go the distance before the end of the year. The plan proved effective in Oklahoma. 

Not long from the top 100, Stephens is in a position to at least make it to the Australian Open qualifying, and even has a genuine chance of making it to the main draw, and the same applies for her 16-year-old opponent. Both players are on a similar path, but from opposite ends of their careers.