WHAT HAPPENED: After losing the first nine games in the first match of Opening Night of the 2024 US Open, Clara Burel of France staged an amazing comeback to eliminate 2017 singles champion Sloane Stephens 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 in 2 hours and 6 minutes.
Playing before a large crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium, which included Billie Jean King, Burel fell behind Stephens 6-0, 3-0 before getting on the scoreboard with a service break in the tenth game. She began to find the range on her shots and with an aggressive baseline game, she rallied to tie the set at 5-5. Burel then held serve for a 6-5 lead and broke Stephens in the 12th game to even the match at one-set all.
Stephens regained the momentum in the third set and led 5-4, but Bruel broke serve twice in winning the final three games of the deciding set to seal the match.
“I was a little bit nervous in the beginning. Sloane was playing well. She was moving really well and she was making it tough for me. I just kept fighting and I found a way,” Burel said after the match. “That was the turning point, when I decided to be more aggressive. I started to win more points. I’m very happy to be here and to win is just amazing.”
WHAT IT MEANS: With her first-round US Open victory, Burel evens her career head-to-head record against Stephens at 1-1. Earlier this year, Burel fell to the American, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, in the first-round on hard courts in Dubai.
Burel, currently ranked No. 56, moves into Round 2 of the US Open. She will meet three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka. The No. 20 seeded Azarenka defeated Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
The 23-year-old Burel is playing in just her fourth career US Open, but the talented French right-hander has scored some big wins in reaching the US Open third round the previous two years. After reaching the main draw in 2022 as a qualifier, Burel ousted reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the first round. In 2023, she defeated former world No. 1 and 2016 US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova in the second round.
MATCH POINT: Burel scored her first career win over a Top 10 player this past January when she upset fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula in the second round of the Australian Open.
