Sloane Stephens sent Coco Gauff spinning out of the US Open – then joined the clamour to stop toilet break "gamesmanship" in tennis.
In Wednesday's opening night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, former champion Stephens took the fast route past world number 23 Gauff, speeding to a 6-4 6-2 victory.
Now ranked 66th, Stephens won at Flushing Meadows in 2017 and was tipped by Gauff to challenge for the title again this year. By beating Madison Keys and now Gauff, Stephens is showing she still has major game, and another former champion in Angelique Kerber could be her third-round opponent.
Gauff, now 17, has known Stephens for over seven years, having attended the now 28-year-old's 21st birthday party.
But the American pair put friendship to one side for their showdown, with Gauff, who had been fancied by many to go deep this fortnight, having her threat stifled by an in-form Stephens.
"I think the last time we hit, she was probably like 12. It was a little bit different," Stephens said afterwards.
"It's just been really nice to see her game kind of evolve and the things that she's doing, like how she's able to turn so much defense into offense and kind of do those movements. She is great at the net. She has a really great all-around game. It's been really nice to see.
"She's different from a lot of the up-and-coming players we're seeing now that are just super hard hitting, not much variety. She has a lot of variety. I think a lot of the younger girls, there's half that are very hard hitting and half that have a lot of variety. I think she's in the bucket with a lot of variety."
Gauff was asked whether Stephens could now be considered a title contender and replied: "Yeah, definitely. Today she was playing well. I knew these last couple of tournaments she's been playing better and better. I hope that she can make it all the way to the end.
"Obviously if you are going to lose, you want to lose to the champion. I think that I feel like I've learned that I'm capable of making it far in slams. I think if I tighten up a few things, that I'm capable of winning one."
The debate over toilet breaks in tennis was sparked by Andy Murray being furious with Stefanos Tsitsipas for spending eight minutes in the bathroom before tackling the Scot in the deciding set of their first-round match.
Murray, frustrated to be left waiting for his opponent to reappear, followed up his Monday night fury with a tweet that charged Tsitsipas with taking twice as long to visit the toilet as Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos took to travel into space.
There was no such spat in Stephens' quickfire win over Gauff, but the rules on spending a penny have been the currency of many a news conference this week.
"I honestly just thought Andy's tweet was really funny," said Stephens. "I didn't see exactly what happened. I'm not sure. I just thought it was hilarious. We all are like huge Andy fans. We love him.
"I can't speak for what happened in that match, but I do know on the girl's side, there still is a lot of that. It's gamesmanship.
"I think there definitely needs to be a rule or changes. They make a lot of rule changes for smaller things, like they took one minute off the warm-up. If someone goes to the bathroom for nine minutes, no one says anything.
"Six, eight minutes is a long time to leave a match. That changes the whole momentum of a match. If you're changing your clothes, what are you changing? What are you doing in there?
"When you get into six, seven, eight, nine minutes, okay, what are you doing in there? Do you need help? I can come help you. Like, what's happening? I think that's more where the issues are because it just becomes pure gamesmanship."
Stefanos Tsitsipas survives Jiri Vesely scare to reach French Open second round
Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a scare against Jiri Vesely in his opening match at the French Open.
The 2021 finalist seemed to have the contest well under control after a slow start when he moved two sets ahead of his Czech opponent but Vesely took the third and had three set points at 6-3 in the fourth-set tie-break to force a decider.
Fifth seed Tsitsipas saved all of them, though, before clinching a 7-5 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7) victory and roaring with relief.
The Greek knows he will need to play better going forward, saying: “It was a great comeback from me on that tie-breaker. I didn’t really play the way I wanted to play.
“I started just going more to the ball, being much more aggressive on my shot-making, and I kind of dictated a little bit better. The match was very inconsistent from my side. I felt like I haven’t played a match with so much inconsistency in a very long time.
“There weren’t a lot of rallies in play. He was serving big, so I had to find ways to change that. At times I felt like my footwork was lousy.
“But otherwise I’m happy with how things turned around, and my fighting spirit went on full display in those last few points of the tie-breaker. It was a great way to end it by just being patient and waiting for that chance to pop up.”
Tsitsipas has had an up-and-down season so far and struggled with injury after reaching his second grand slam final at the Australian Open but the clay-court swing has seen him find more consistency.
The 24-year-old revealed he is trying to play with a smile on his face having been influenced by Carlos Alcaraz’s positive attitude.
“I had a practice session with Carlitos the other day and did throw in a ‘thank you’ just randomly, and I don’t know if he understood that or not,” said Tsitsipas.
“I owe a lot to Carlitos because he’s such a breath of fresh air. He’s so competitive and he’s always with a smile on his face, and so much charisma to him and so much positive energy that he distributes.
“I think that’s contributed a lot to his growth as a tennis player and his consistency, too. I admire him for who he is. I have that capacity of being that person. I truly believe that.”
Eleventh seed Karen Khachanov, who has reached the semi-finals at the last two grand slams, had to fight back from two sets down to beat Constant Lestienne, and the vocal French crowd, 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-3.
Hubert Hurkacz also survived a five-setter against David Goffin while 24th seed Sebastian Korda saw off fellow American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4 7-5 6-4.
Dan Evans unhappy with foot-fault call in French Open loss to Thanasi Kokkinakis
Dan Evans branded his French Open defeat by Thanasi Kokkinakis “shocking” and hit out at officials for foot-faulting him at a key point in the first-round contest.
Evans finally won his first match at Roland Garros last year but could not achieve the same result here, going down 6-4 6-4 6-4 to big-hitting Kokkinakis – the player beaten by Andy Murray in an early morning Australian Open epic this year.
The British number two appeared to have turned the match around in the second set when he led 4-1 but, at 30-0 in the seventh game, he was foot-faulted for the unusual offence of his back foot crossing the centre line on serve by the line judge at the far end of the court.
Evans promptly lost four points in a row, slamming his water bottle to the ground in annoyance and earning a code violation, and he did not win another game in the set as the match slipped away.
The 33-year-old was clearly taken aback by the call, which he later said had never happened to him before.
“Disruptive, wrong, a few other things you could say about it,” said Evans. “It’s the game. But, once again, the players are held responsible, but the umpires and line judges are not held responsible. I’ll be getting fined, obviously, for breaking the water bottle.
“I obviously knew it was a rule but I tend to know where my feet are. It just totally threw me where I was then serving from. It was difficult from then on. I lost all trust in where my feet were. It’s a very minor thing, but it became a pretty big thing in my head.
“If they’re going to call that foot fault, it shouldn’t be from 35 metres away, from fence to fence through a net. That’s not the reason I lost, but I was right in the match at that point.”
Evans remains close to his highest ranking at 25 and has had some decent results this season, notably reaching the semi-finals on clay in Barcelona last month, but he has also lost his opening match at tournaments eight times and is currently on a four-match losing streak.
He will hope to turn things around on grass, where he has traditionally been strong, but he made no attempt to sugar-coat things.
“I’ve been very poor in the big tournaments this year,” he said. “Incredibly kind draw in Australia and I came through a few matches, but I’ve been poor in the Masters, one good tournament this year.
“I said the other day there’s some soul-searching. There will be plenty of that tonight.
“I’ve got to get on and try and get my game in a good spot. It’s shocking right now how I played today. The frustrating thing is I’m playing well in practice and then not putting it on the court.
“It’s a hard sport. That’s the bottom line. I’ve never missed a shot from inside the living room, and I’m guessing no one missed at home today. It’s just incredibly frustrating. I’ll keep going, trying, and get back practising.”
The defeat means Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper are the only British players left in the main singles draws, and Evans launched his latest broadside against the Lawn Tennis Association in his pre-tournament press conference on Friday, criticising the way young players are funded.
View this post on InstagramDavis Cup captain Leon Smith and LTA performance director Michael Bourne were both in the stands watching Evans, and he said: “The problem with it all is everybody takes it personally.
“It’s not anything personal. If you’re taking it personally, then maybe you’re guilty of what I’m saying. They were supporting me fine today.
“I voice my opinions because I want working-class kids to get the support they deserve. In any other sport, when people voice their opinions about a system, it goes forward, but, in tennis, because we’re so elitist in England, it doesn’t get put forward. I’m doing it for working-class people like I was.”
Dan Evans crashes out of French Open in first round
A frustrated Dan Evans was beaten in straight sets by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the opening round of the French Open.
Evans finally won his first match at Roland Garros last year but could not achieve the same result here, going down 6-4 6-4 6-4 to the powerful Australian in hot and lively conditions.
The British number two appeared to have turned the match around in the second set when he led 4-1 but, at 30-0 in the next game, he was faulted for his foot crossing the centre line.
Evans promptly lost four points in a row, slamming his water bottle to the ground in annoyance and earning a code violation, and he did not win another game in the set as the match slipped away.
He gave himself a chance by breaking Kokkinakis, the player beaten by Andy Murray from two sets down in the early hours of the morning at the Australian Open, to pull himself back to 4-4 in the third set.
But Evans promptly dropped serve again and Kokkinakis did not allow him a second chance.
The 33-year-old’s defeat means Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper are the only British players left in the singles main draws.
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