Tennis
Tennis: Sahaja Yamalapalli beats former US Open champion
Sahaja Yamalapalli beat Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-2 in straight sets.
Sahaja Yamalapalli is currently ranked 303rd in the live WTA rankings. (Photo credit: Indian Tennis Daily)
India's Sahaja Yamalapalli beat the former US Open women's singles champion Sloane Stephens in the opening round of WTA 125 Abierto Tampico on Wednesday.
Sahaja, ranked 347, in the world, registered a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win over the former world No 3.
The 24-year-old Indian started in a dominating fashion, breaking Stephens' serve in just the second game of the first set. She broke again in the fourth game to lead 4-0.
Stephens did manage to pull one back in the fifth game but that was all she could do as Sahaja broke again in the eighth game to win the first set 6-2.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Sahaja raced to a 5-0 lead before the 2017 US Open champion pulled one back.
It, however, was only a minor blip as Sahaja once again won a break point in the eighth game to win the second set with an identical 6-2 margin and wrapped the match up in an hour and 12 minutes.
Sahaja will next face off against the second seeded Petra Marchinko on Thursday.
