Tennis
ESPN staff 6y

CoCo Vandeweghe defeats Sloane Stephens in Stuttgart first round

Tennis, WTA

CoCo Vandeweghe sent fellow American Sloane Stephens crashing out at the first-round stage of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

Vandeweghe played alongside Stephens in the Davis Cup last weekend but took control of their tie, losing just one game to the seventh-seed to book a second-round meeting with Laura Siegemund.

The victor will face top seed Simona Halep after she battled back from a set down to ease past Magdalena Rybarikova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and into the quarterfinals.

In the tie of the round, Anett Kontaveit fought from a set down to clinch victory over Kristina Mladenovic. The three-hour epic saw Kontaveit save two match points, winning tie breaks in the final two sets to take the win 5-7, 7-6, 7-6.

Kontaveit defeated Muguruza at last year's tournament but after taking a 5-3 lead in the first, fell a set down. The Estonian then saved two match points on her own serve before taking the second set in a tie-break and rounding off a brilliant performance as she took the win in the third set.

She will now face home favourite Angelique Kerber, who reached the last 16 by defeating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2.

Veronika Kudermetova will meet Karolina Pliskova in the second round having dispatched Carla Suárez Navarro 7-6, 6-2

Fellow qualifier Zarina Diyas set up a clash with fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko having overcome Carina Witthoeft in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

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