Sloane Stephens Ousted By Marion Bartoli


Sloane Stephens was ousted at Wimbledon by Marion Bartoli. Despite the crowd rooting for her more than Bartoli, Stephens was eliminated in the fourth round on Tuesday.

With Stephens gone, Wimbledon is now devoid of any US player on the men’s or women’s side. The 20-year-old crowd favorite scored just one point on her first four service games in the second set. Despite cheering Bartoli’s errors and double faults, the crowd failed to help.

The one-sided support from the crowd came after Bartoli forced a cessation of play when Stephens was serving at 4-5, deuce. While it was drizzling, tennis etiquette normally demands that Bartoli allow Stephens to finish her service game before suspension. Afterward, the American commented:

“It would have been nice to finish the game. Coming back and serving at deuce would be tough for anyone. But things happen.”

After the French player told umpire John bloom it was too dangerous to continue playing, the crowd jeered at her. Bloom consulted a tournament official, then agreed to halt play. The call caused the crowd to give Sloane Stephens a loud ovation as she walked off the court. Afterward, Bartoli commented:

“I didn’t really get why the crowd was so against me because obviously the courts are so dangerous already before they’re wet and I didn’t want to hurt myself. The crowd went against me and that’s the way it is. It didn’t matter much to me.”

After play resumed, Sloane Stephens lost the next two points, and the first set. She dropped the first nine points after the suspension, which ultimately caused her loss. But despite the loss, Stephens was optimistic, commenting, “Better just to lean from it and move on.”

Now that Sloane Stephens is out, Marion Bartoli advance to the semifinals, where she faces 20th-seeded Kirstin Flipkens, who defeated the 2011 Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, in the quarterfinals.

[Image via Neale Cousland / Shutterstock.com]

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