SLOANE STEPHENS ADVANCES IN FRENCH OPEN 2014.

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Sloane Stephens has a lovely habit of raising her game when it matters most during tennis’s four major tournaments. 

 And on Thursday at Roland Garros, she again showed why she has been identified as one of the game’s most promising talents with her comprehensive victory over Slovenia's Polona Hercog. Stephen’s 6-1, 6-3 win in just an hour and 14 minutes sent her through to the third round at Roland Garros for the third straight year. She is one of the few players who owns a complete record across all four majors; in her young career she has reached the second week at each, even progressing to the Australian Open semis in 2013. But Roland Garros is where it all began for her; in 2012 she won through to the fourth round as a teenager, and on her favourite surface she has continued to replicate that success this year in Paris. At times on Court No.1 against Hercog, she made it look ridiculously easy. 
The statuesque Slovenian gave her plenty of help too, thanks to a somewhat bizarre tactical approach to the match. She mostly rolled forehands and chipped backhands at Stephens, while standing several metres behind the baseline to return Stephens’ not-overly-powerful service – at one stage a delivery nearly bounced twice before she got her racquet to it. Despite her strong, athletic build, Hercog was comprehensively beaten for power off the ground. Presumably this was a tactic to give Stephens lots of time to think, and hope she missed. Instead, the 15th seed had all the time in the world to set herself up for shots and rip her ground-strokes, which she did; Stephens smote a total of 23 winners to 13. 
Errors also proved costly for Hercog: routine shots lofted long or flopped into the net, and combined with Stephens precision from the back-court, a 5-0 lead was soon built. The Court No.1 crowd was briefly roused when Hercog got on the board in the sixth game, but soon returned to its subdued state when a rash of errors put her behind a set and 3-0. 
 Thankfully the closing stages of the second set were more competitive. Yet when Stephens nudged ahead 5-3 after a struggle, she decided enough was enough. Tightening the screws, she advanced on the net to punch away a volley, and then produced a forehand winner to secure a trio of match points. Two points later, another forehand winner saw her complete the contest with a flourish.