Sloane Stephens crashes out of Mexico Open
The top seed was beaten in three sets.
US Open champion Sloane Stephens suffered an upset in the Mexico Open after being dumped out of the tournament by world number 138 Stefanie Voegele.
The top seed appeared sluggish against Switzerland’s Voegele, who claimed her biggest win in five years with a 6-4 5-7 6-2 victory.
Stephens started the quarter-final proceedings with errors on her backhand, giving Voegele the opportunity to break in the final game of the first set.
The American showed more aggression in the second, winning the last three games in a row to take the set, but she faltered in the decider as the Swiss dropped just two points in four games.
Voegele will now face qualifier Rebecca Peterson, who beat fourth seed Zhang Shuai 6-2 6-1 to advance to the semi-final.
Elsewhere in Acapulco, number three seed Daria Gavrilova beat Veronica Cepede Royg 6-4 4-6 6-2, while defending champion Lesia Tsurenko overcame number two seed Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets, 6-2 6-2, in a replay of last year’s final.
At the Oracle Challenger Series in Indian Wells, a pair of American wildcards claimed shock wins against two seeded players.
Danielle Collins fought back after dropping the first set to beat top seed Magda Linette 5-7 7-6 (7/0) 6-4, while world number 173 Caroline Dolehide defeated number three seed Hsieh Su-wei in two tiebreaks, 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/5).
Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic also overcame number eight seed Duan Ying-ying 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 and Italy’s Sara Errani made it to through to the last eight, beating American Kristie Ahn 6-4 6-0.
