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2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens had to put in the hard yards to beat Anna Kalinskaya in the opening set of their third-round clash of the Australian Open 2024 on Saturday, January 20.
In the end, Stephens survived the heat by winning the first set 7-6(8) at the Show Court Arena. The set seemed to have taken a toll on her body as she said was 'hungry' by the time it ended.
Stephens was then spotted snacking on sushi and smoothies to gain some energy before the next phase of the match against her Russian opponent.
“We had a long first set, I was hungry and this is all my team could find,” Sloane Stephens wrote on X about her mid-match snack.
After the first set, Stephens did not have much to cheer about as Kalinskaya won the match 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-4 to knock her opponent out of the hard-court major. After agonizingly losing the opening set, Kalinskaya started the second set in the best possible manner by making an early break. She then stormed to a 4-0 lead to win the second set comfortably.
Stephens made a comeback by taking a 3-1 lead in the third set with an early break of serve. Just when it seemed that she would eventually overpower her opponent with her experience, Kalinskaya broke the American’s service twice to make a stupendous comeback.
Stephens hit 44 winners, only two less than Kalinskaya’s 46. However, her 33 unforced errors — 18 more than her opponent — arguably led to her undoing.
“Need to work hard” - Anna Kalinskaya after beating Sloane Stephens
Before the Australian Open, Anna Kalinskaya had never progressed to the third round of any Grand Slam, having played four times in the second round of the US Open four times — in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023.
This time around, Kalinskaya has upped her game big time and the win against Sloane Stephens arguably ranks as one of the best in her career until now. After beating Stephens, the 25-year-old talked about the need to keep working hard to scale greater heights in her career.
During her on-court interview, the reporter asked Kalinskaya if she would have believed it if someone told her last week that she would be in the fourth round of the Australian Open. She replied:
“Uh… I probably would. But of course, I need to work hard. I am very happy to be in the fourth round."
Kalinskaya will next lock horns with 26th seed Jasmine Paolini, who will be brimming with confidence after beating the likes of Tatjana Maria and Anna Blinkova.
