Stephens speeds past Kerber into Miami semis

MIAMI, FL, USA - No.13 seed Sloane Stephens stunned No.10 seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 in the first Miami Open quarterfinal of the day to make her first semifinal since her shock US Open title run - a win that also means the American will crack the Top 10 for the first time next week.

Stephens had endured a downturn in her fortunes immediately following her maiden Slam crown, losing eight consecutive matches - but has thrived on North American soil. Over the past 12 months, she has compiled a 22-5 record in the USA, Canada and Mexico - but is 0-9 over the same period in the rest of the world.

For Kerber, the German failed to add Stephens to her list of revenge wins in 2018. Though she trailed her opponent 1-3 in their head-to-head - in Kerber's sole win back in 2012 in Indian Wells, she had been forced to come back from a 2-6, 1-5 and double match point deficit - such disadvantages have not fazed the 30-year-old this year. Ten of her 21 wins have come at the expense of players who had beaten her in their previous meeting.

Stephens' renowned forehand was on song from the word go, firing two lasers in her very first service game - and it would not let up over the course of a brisk, one-sided opening set that lasted just 23 minutes and saw the 25-year-old rack up 11 winners in total.

But it was the manner in which the US Open champion balanced offence and defence that was most impressive, particularly as Stephens has tilted too much to one side or the other in the past. Such was her solidity in counterpunching with depth that she negated many of Kerber's favoured aggressive patterns, while keeping her own error count to a miserly seven in the first set.

"When you play a player like Angie... you have to execute your game well," said Stephens afterwards. "And then you have to make sure that when you are executing your game you stick with it. Like a lot of times you can venture off and start, you know, doing other things."

The German had had less than 24 hours to recover from her marathon two-hour, 51-minute fourth-round win over qualifier Wang Yafan, and admitted afterwards that she was feeling the amount of matches she has played this year. "I was really feeling a little bit tired today," Kerber said. "I mean, of course it was windy, it was tricky, but I have played so many matches in the last three months that I was feeling it a little bit today in my body... I was always one step too far away from the balls, and then I make the mistakes."

found that her attempts to shorten points simply played into Stephens' hands.

Closing in on the net with more eagerness than usual, Kerber found slim pickings in the forecourt. Stephens' ability to suddenly inject pace into her forehand resulted in a number of formidable passing shots that left the former World No.1 flailing - a weapon that would convert both of the lower seed's break points in the first set.

By the final game of the set Kerber's own volleying skills were wobbling wildly as she sent a drive volley and then an overhead long: in total, the two-time major champion would be able to garner just one point in her six net forays in the first set. By contrast, Stephens was successful on nine of her 11 ventures up the court across the match, including a brilliant drop volley en route to holding for 4-1.

With Kerber attempting to gain a foothold in the match but still struggling to control her game in blustery conditions, three tame forehand errors in the fourth game - all on her usually reliable trademark down-the-line shot - put her down 0-40, with the match threatening to slip away fast. That game would prove to be the most tense moment of the match, though, as the Sydney champion conjured up some of her finest serves of the day to stave off five break points.

A sixth, though, was won thanks to Stephens' footspeed, as the 2013 Australian Open semifinalist chased down a dropshot to hammer a backhand crosscourt. In the subsequent game, Stephens would save the only break point she faced across the whole match when Kerber missed a forehand wide - and followed that up with another break.

Afterwards, Stephens was proud of how she had dealt with the adverse weather conditions. "I don't want to play in wind; she doesn't want to play in wind," she said. "It's uncomfortable for both of us, and... I mean, here and there, there are going to be things that you can't control whatsoever and you've just got to go with it.

"Sometimes it's not a bad thing because you kind of push yourself to places that you really would not normally go if, like, the conditions were perfect and we were both playing great and whatever. I have just learned to embrace it."

Appropriately enough, the World No.12 would serve out her first quarterfinal victory since the US Open with another three forehand rockets, taking her winner tally up to 22 - compared with just 13 unforced errors - as she closed out a 61-minute victory. 

Kerber, meanwhile, has been a model of consistency in a resurgent 2018, with quarterfinal-or-better runs in each of her six tournaments so far - but was left to rue a subpar ratio of nine winners to 25 unforced errors. Still, the first quarter of the year has been a positive one. "I was really working hard the last three months, actually the last four or five months with the offseason," Kerber said afterwards. "And now I really need a little bit of rest to recover my body, my mind, and then getting ready for my surface that I really love... that's the clay!"

Also on the line today was a spot in the Top 10. Having first reached her current career high of No.11 back in October 2013, Stephens will finally hit the milestone of breaking the Top 10 in the post-Miami rankings. "Finally. Oh, my God," she laughed afterwards. "I'm so tired of them being, like, career-high ranking, No.11. Like, finally I can move in there.

"It's awesome. Obviously something I have wanted to do for a while, and... it's really not easy. Getting to No.11 was hard, and so getting into the Top 10 is pretty special. I'm super excited about that."

Linking her hard work in breaking this milestone with her greater ability to deal with going out of her comfort zone, Stephens once again referred to her comeback third-round win over Monica Niculescu from a set down - just as she had following her fourth-round defeat of Garbiñe Muguruza - as a key moment.

"I think where the work is done is when you're, like, on Court 75 and you're playing Niculescu, and she's slicing and dicing you to Beijing, basically," stated Stephens. "And you're having to really fight and struggle. I think those are where you kind of -- you fight your tail off in those to be able to get to center court and play girls like [Muguruza and Kerber]."