Kontaveit comeback stops Stephens in Wuhan first round

WUHAN, China -- Anett Kontaveit of Estonia engineered a remarkable comeback in a lengthy first-round match at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open on Sunday night, coming back from a set and a break down to upset No.9 seed Sloane Stephens of the United States, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Stephens had won her only prior meeting with Kontaveit, dismissing the Estonian 6-2, 6-0 in the fourth round of Roland Garros earlier this year, en route to her second Grand Slam final. But Kontaveit turned the tables on the 2017 US Open champion in Wuhan, maneuvering to the victory after two hours and 33 minutes of play.

World No.9 Stephens led 6-4, 4-3, 40-0, before Kontaveit fought back and took the match in three sets for her seventh Top 10 win of 2018. The Estonian had 34 winners to only 20 for Stephens. The American also had four more unforced errors than Kontaveit throughout the clash, and left seven of her 11 break points begging.

In the second round, Kontaveit will face the winner of Monday's first-round tilt between CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States and Croatia's Donna Vekic.

Strong hitting, particularly from the forehand side, gave Kontaveit a leg up early in the match, as she broke Stephens at love for a 2-0 lead, then consolidated with a quick service hold for a commanding 3-0 lead.

But after the change of ends, Stephens came back with renewed purpose, routinely finding the groundstroke angles which carried her to a maiden Grand Slam title in New York last year. Meanwhile, the unforced errors from Kontaveit increased, and the American clawed back on serve at 3-2.

Powerful forehands helped Kontaveit fend off two break points at 3-3, but she was unable to evade danger at 4-4, as the stellar Stephens backhand led the American to another service break. Stephens quickly held to close out the set in style, having won six of the final seven games.

Stephens picked up an early break at 1-1 and held it all the way to the middle of the set, extending points to force Kontaveit into errors as the No.9 seed moved to a 4-3 lead. 

Serving in that game, the American reached 40-0, but strong returning by Kontaveit and poorly-timed errors by Stephens let Kontaveit back to deuce. Two more unforced errors by Stephens suddenly ceded the break to Kontaveit, and the Estonian was back level in the set, after having been a point away from 3-5, 

At 4-4, Kontaveit saved a break point with a rally forehand to force an error, and eventually held to stay on serve. Kontaveit then took advantage of an error-prone Stephens at 6-5 to reach double set point on the American’s serve. On her second set point, Kontaveit crushed a forehand winner to complete the second-set comeback.

Stephens again took an early lead in the decider, breaking for 3-2 after a Kontaveit backhand miscue went wide. But the American was unable to consolidate her lead, blasting multiple forehand unforced errors to drop serve and let Kontaveit tie the set at 3-3.

Kontaveit then found herself in a dire predicament at 4-4, misfiring off her backhand wing to fall behind 0-40. But the Estonian found her forehand form at the perfect time, using a litany of winners from that side to draw back to deuce, and eventually held for 5-4.

Having lost three chances to serve for the match, Stephens faltered in her next service game, and watched another Kontaveit forehand whizz past for a winner to queue up triple match point. Naturally, Kontaveit sealed the victory with one more clean forehand winner, finishing up her tremendous comeback and moving into the second round in Wuhan.

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