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A18 SPORTS
Saturday 9 September 2017

U.S. OPEN For Keys, the time away in her sport.

Continued from Page 17 reminded her how much “It was just kind of, like, eye-
opening,” Stephens add-
she cares about compet-
ing — especially the feel- ed. “When I wasn’t play-
Neither one of us were ing of working her way out ing, like, of course I loved
playing at the time, both of tough situations within a my time off, but when I
just having surgeries,” the match — and it also made got back to playing ten-
15th-seeded Keys said af- her decide she needed to nis, it was, like, this is where
ter her thoroughly domi- not put too many expecta- I want to be. This is what I
nating 6-1, 6-2 victory over tions on herself. love doing.”
CoCo Vandeweghe in the “Not being there, it just Things did not go all that
semifinals Thursday night. made me realize how well for either when they
“To be able to play her in much I love it and not to first got back to enter-
both of our first finals is a put so much pressure on ing tournaments. Until last
really special moment,” myself,” Keys said, “which I week, they were a com-
Keys said about Stephens, think helps me enjoy being bined 2-3 in Grand Slam
“especially with everything out there a lot more.” matches in 2017.
that we have gone through As for Stephens, who After Keys’ wrist was pain-
this year.” edged seven-time major ful in a second-round loss
Might seem counterintui- champion Venus Williams at the French Open, she
tive to think that their in- 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 in the semifi- had a second operation
jury absences somehow nals by taking the last three on her left arm; she is righty
helped them become bet- games, being forced off but uses both hands for her
Sloane Stephens, of the United States, reacts after defeating ter tennis players, but both
Venus Williams, of the United States, during the semifinals of the the tour for a total of 11 two-fisted backhand.
U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, in New Keys, 22, and Stephens, months provided a chance Keys lost in the second
York. 24, say that’s exactly what to renew how much she round at Wimbledon, too,
Associated Press happened. cared about succeeding but since then has won 12
of 13 matches.
Stephens made her sea-
son debut at the All Eng-
land Club, exiting in the first
round. Lost her next match,
too, in Washington. And
since? She has gone 14-2,
and her ranking has soared
from outside the top 900
to No. 83 entering the U.S.
Open. It’ll be around No.
20 as of Monday.
“Same player,” Stephens
said. “Just older and wiser.”
At first glance, she and
Keys offer contrasting styles
of play.
Stephens’ game is predi-
cated in large part on her
speed and an ability to
track down opponents’
shots, over and over and
over again. Keys’ game is
power-based, built around
a booming serve and fore-
hand that have been per-
fectly on-target this week.
“I would say she’s probably
more comfortable defend-
ing and not going for big-
ger shots before (I would),”
Keys said, “but I would say
we are very similar in a lot
of ways.”q