Garcia beats Stephens in first round of W&S Open again

 

Caroline Garcia of France outlasted Sloane Stephens in a rain-delayed match
that ended at 2:10 a.m. Wednesday EDT. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   In a battle of former top-five players, Caroline Garcia defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round of the Western & Southern Open for the second consecutive year.

   Garcia, a French qualifier, outlasted Stephens, a wild card who grew up in Fresno, Calif., 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4 in Cincinnati in a rain-delayed match that ended at 2:10 a.m. Wednesday EDT.

   Garcia eliminated Stephens 6-3, 7-6 (4) in last year's Western & Southern Open, which was moved to the site of the U.S. Open in New York because of COVID.

   In the first round of doubles today, No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan dispatched Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3.

   Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA.