Stephens Breaks Drought in Melbourne Qualifying
Sloane Stephens ends a 13-match skid with a gritty win over Barbora Palicova, reigniting her Australian Open hopes amid qualifying’s raw intensity and unexpected twists.
On Melbourne Park’s outer courts, where the hard surfaces grip under the January sun, Sloane Stephens rediscovered her edge in a match that felt like a personal reckoning. The former US Open champion, dipping to No. 1,097 but armed with a special ranking of No. 115, faced 21-year-old Czech Barbora Palicova, ranked No. 230, in her first Grand Slam qualifying since 2011. Stephens took the opener 6-1, firing inside-out forehands that hugged the lines and forced errors, her footwork sharp after a six-month 2025 hiatus for injury. The second set turned tense at 5-5, but her heavy topspin returns and down-the-line backhands sealed a 7-5 victory, snapping a 13-match losing streak that traced back to a Wimbledon 2024 win over Elsa Jacquemot.
Resilience fuels tactical shifts
Those defeats had piled up relentlessly—10 losses post-Wimbledon, then three more after her September return—testing the mental armor that once propelled her to 2013 Melbourne semifinals. Against Palicova, Stephens mixed crosscourt angles with net approaches, disrupting the Czech’s baseline rhythm on the medium-fast hard courts. This breakthrough, her first win in 14 years of qualifying, sets up a rematch with Australian Olivia Gadecki, who ousted No. 22 seed Arantxa Rus 6-2, 6-4. Their 2024 meetings split: Stephens dominated the main-draw opener 6-3, 6-1, but Gadecki won the next two, her lefty serve and aggressive volleys demanding precise passing shots from the American.
Comebacks define qualifying grit
Liechtenstein’s Kathinka Von Deichmann staged a stunning reversal against 16-year-old wild card Renee Alame, the draw’s youngest and unranked Australian. Down 6-3, 5-0, she saved a match point at 5-3 in the second and won 10 straight games, her underspin slices and drop shots slowing Alame’s power on the rebounding surface for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 triumph. At 31, this marked her first qualifying win at Melbourne in six tries since 2018, the first for any Liechtensteiner in Australian Open history. Von Deichmann’s finesse web—lobs following one–two patterns—stymied the teenager’s flat groundstrokes, turning desperation into dominance.
Next for her looms No. 8 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who dispatched 16-year-old French wild card Ksenia Efremova 6-3, 6-1 with flat returns that exploited the hard court’s low bounce. Von Deichmann’s varied depths could counter Sasnovich’s efficiency, but the Belarusian’s baseline solidity will test that historic momentum under the home crowd’s gaze.
Upsets and endurance shape day one
No. 10 seed Rebeka Masarova battled through the day’s longest match, a 3-hour-29-minute epic, saving a match point at 5-4 in the third to beat Alina Charaeva 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(5). Her shift to varied serves and crosscourt returns wore down the Russian on the outdoor hard, where endurance amplified every adjustment. Texas A&M’s Mary Stoiana, 22 and in her first direct Grand Slam qualifying entry after a 2024 US Open wild card, saved five match points to edge Nuria Brancaccio 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, her aggressive forehands clinching the decider amid rising tension.
In a clash of ex-Top 100 players, No. 11 seed Taylor Townsend grinded past Nao Hibino 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-5, her serve-volley tactics overwhelming the Japanese’s spin in the final set. Spain’s Aliona Bolsova, once No. 88 and a 2019 Roland Garros fourth-rounder set to retire this spring, ended her Grand Slam run 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-1 against No. 2 seed Lucia Bronzetti, her defiant rallies closing a chapter on these courts.
Top seeds tumbled early: Spaniard Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales upset No. 3 Mayar Sherif 6-4, 6-3, probing returns exposing the Egyptian’s second serve vulnerabilities. North Macedonia’s Lina Gjorcheska raced past No. 4 Sinja Kraus 7-5, 6-0, down-the-line winners dismantling the Austrian’s slice. No. 5 seed Zeynep Sonmez, however, cruised 6-2, 6-2 over 17-year-old Laura Samson in 1 hour 15 minutes, the Czech junior—2024 Roland Garros finalist and Prague semifinalist on WTA debut—struggling against flat returns on the grippy surface.
As qualifying unfolds, these battles highlight the psychological tightrope: Stephens’ revival, Von Deichmann’s milestone, and the upsets signal deeper runs ahead, where hard-court speed and mental resets will decide who breaks through to the main draw.
