Sloane Stephens saves her best for last, and can win the French Open

Sloane Stephens began her 2017 North American summer hard-court season with a 7-6 (3), 6-0 loss to Simona Halep in Washington, D.C. She ended it just over a month later at the US Open by winning her first Grand Slam title.

Stephens started her 2018 season in Sydney, where she lost, 6-3, 6-0, to 100th-ranked Camila Giorgi. Three months later, Stephens concluded her spring hard-court stretch with a championship-winning performance in Miami.

The American then traveled to Europe to commence her clay-court campaign—and mustered just one game against compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe in Stuttgart.

Wait a minute...

Yes, it could happen again, and not just because of the strange, begin-with-a-bagel pattern that seems better suited for an office workday than a tennis matchday. Sloane Stephens could win the French Open, seemingly out of nowhere despite having proven herself as one of the game's best big-match players. Stephens is 6-0 in tournament finals, and has won 12 of 13 sets in those pressure-packed matches.

“I think I have just played well and had some good results,” Stephens said in Miami about her then-5-0 record in finals, in a nonchalant manner that's occasionally held against her. “I can't really tell you much other than that.”

Unlike many players, including some prominent names still remaining in the Roland Garros draw, Stephens has the most difficult time during the early rounds of tournaments. Prior to Roland Garros, her tournament record this season was just 13-8, with only one semifinal appearance.

But when the spotlight intensifies and the matches mean more, there are few players who can perform on Stephens' level. What has become apparent throughout the 25-year-old's career is that you can never truly keep Stephens out of a title discussion, no matter the tournament and no matter its stakes.

“I would say now, and no matter what—anyone, any week can win,” said Stephens last week in Paris about the French Open. “Anyone can beat anyone on any day. We play sports, so it's anything can happen.

“But I think now it's up for grabs, and I think whoever takes their opportunity best is the person who is the winner at the end of the week. But if you have that confidence and you're playing well, anything can happen.”

HIGHLIGHT—Stephens edges Giorgi at Roland Garros:

On the terre battue, Stephens has been brilliant, winning two matches by scores of 6-2, 6-0—including her most recent win, over the Petra-Kvitova-conquering No. 25 seed Anett Kontaveit—and another by 6-2, 6-2. Her third of four victories in Paris was far more strenuous but just as revealing: a 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 war of attrition with Giorgi. The Italian twice served for the match, at 5-4 and 6-5 of the third set, but Stephens came up with the goods when she had to.

Stephens is a formidable frontrunner, but her innate skill and come-what-may attitude means she's also never out of a match until it's officially over.

"I just tried to stay tough," she said after her comeback win over Giorgi. "I mean, obviously anything can happen at that point. We had played, I don't know, maybe two-and-a-half hours at that point, and so you could hit a good shot, there can be a let cord, like literally any number of things could happen. You kind of just have to battle and play each point and just be ready for anything."

One thing that has happened is that the draw has shaken out in Stephens' favor. While top seed Simona Halep, former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, two-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber and career Grand Slammer Maria Sharapova reside in the loaded top half, Stephens is one of four players remaining in the bottom half, none of whom has ever reached a French Open final.

By no means is that to say the talent level is lacking—Stephens next faces Daria Kasatkina, who just beat No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki and is a threat on all surfaces. The winner will face either Yulia Putintseva, who won't be unseeded at Slams for much longer, or Madison Keys, who seems on the verge of her own Slam breakthrough.

INTERVIEW—Stephens after reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time:

On Sunday, Keys and Stephens advanced to the quarterfinals with clinical victories; they've now reached the elite eight at every Grand Slam tournament. The Americans are friends first, foes second, which made their 2017 US Open final so compelling—and, after Stephens' 6-3, 6-0 rout of Keys, made their embrace at the net so touching.

"I think she's playing well," said Stephens about Keys. "I mean, she's, like, really the only person I actually watch because I will be texting her during the match, 'Come on, what are you doing?' But, no, I think she's been playing well.

"Obviously in a Slam she really gets up, so she's, you know, going to make—she's going to make whoever she plays play, and I think that's what's great about Maddy."

Regardless of Stephens' opponent, she'll seek to continue doing what's put her in this prime position. Her groundstrokes, which are tested on this slow surface more than any other, have held up under constant pressure on both sides. Her forehand and backhand are consistent tools of the baseline trade, but she can flatten out either shot to hit through the clay—another prerequisite for success at Roland Garros.

Most impressive, though, is Stephens' knack of changing from defense to offense, a result of her confidence and movement on clay—and her ability to run to the corner of court, take a crosscourt cut, and immediately put her opponent on the defensive.

Kontaveit had no answers for Stephens' blend of patience and power. Kasatkina, who play against Stephens with less rest after completing her fourth-round match on Monday, will be asked the same questions.

"I mean, I don't think that I'm such a great clay-court player," a humble Stephens said after her commanding fourth-round win. "I think I just enjoy playing on it. I think it's a cool surface. It's different from all the other surfaces we play on all year long. I mean, I just enjoy it. But like I said, I'm no Rafa."

No, Sloane Stephens isn't going to win 10 French Opens in her career. But winning just one, after not having won a red-clay title in her career, could be seen as impressive as the King of Clay gobbling up an 11th.

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