Francesca Schiavone has been defeated by Sloane Stephens of USA in the opening round of the US Open. Stephens won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4. The American youngster showed brilliant temperament in the match and stunned the experienced Italian player. Schiavone looked under pressure throughout the match. She didn’t serve well and neither did she manage to play the return shots with fluency.

Stephens was off to a fantastic start in the match. She got a breakpoint in the second game of the first set and she capitalized on that to take a lead of 2-0. However, the Italian veteran made an immediate comeback in the match and broke Stephens’ service in the next game to make the score 2-1. Schiavone levelled the score by holding her service in the 4^th game. The next three games went with the serve and Stephens was ahead by 4-3 at the end of the seventh game. The American youngster managed to sneak a breakthrough in the eighth game and then, held her service in the next game to win the first set by 6-3.

Stephens carried on the momentum in the second set as well. She broke Schiavone’s service in the very first game of the second set and then, served out the next game to make the score 2-0. But, Schiavone was able to equalise the score by capitalizing on the breakpoint that she got in the 4^th game. Stephens got ahead in the set again by sneaking a breakthrough in the very next game. She maintained the lead till the end of the set and won the match. In the second round, Stephens will take on Tatjana Malek of Germany who made her way to the second round by defeating Akgul Amanmuradova.

Francesca Schiavone has been defeated in the second round of the Women’s tennis singles tournament of London Olympics by Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Zvonareva won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-3. This was the 11th match between these two players and Zvonareva has won all the 11 matches. Zvonareva didn’t have to work hard for her points in the match and she defeated Schiavone easily. She showed a brilliant display of power tennis and fired 13 aces in the match.

Schiavone started well in the first set. But, her service was broken by Zvonareva in the eighth game of the first set. In the ninth game of the first set, Schiavone had a chance to break the service of Zvonareva, but, she was not able to take the advantage of the breakpoint and Zvonareva won the first set by 6-3. In the opening game of the second set, Schiavone again missed the opportunity of breaking the service of Zvonareva. After the match, Schiavone admitted that she missed a lot of opportunities. She said that when you are playing at such a big stage, you are not expected to miss the opportunities too often. As per Schiavone, You don’t get breakpoints easily against the top players. So, when you get the breakpoints, you should make sure that you don’t let them go. She said that she is awfully disappointed and she hadn’t expected to be knocked out of the Olympics so early.

On the other hand, Zvonareva was delighted to go into the third round. She said that when you beat an experienced player like Schiavone, it gives you so much confidence. In the third round, Zvonareva will play against the Wimbledon champion Serena Williams. On being asked about that match, Zvonareva said that playing against Serena would be quite tough, but, she is prepared to take on Serena Williams.