Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams fell at the first hurdle of the French Open as Sloane Stephens claimed an impressive straight-sets triumph.
Williams, a former world No. 1 and seeded 15th for this tournament, has never advanced past the quarterfinal stage at Roland Garros and Monday's defeat was the third time the American has been eliminated in the first round.
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Stephens, 12 years younger than her compatriot, is a former Australian Open semifinalist and she showed more signs of her exciting potential.
After going down 2-0 in the opening set, Stephens recovered her composure and broke back immediately to quash any Williams momentum.
The remainder of the set went with serve and despite going behind in the tiebreaker, Stephens reeled off four out of five points from 4-3 down to take the set.
If the first had been a closely fought affair, the second set was anything but.
Stephens romped into a 3-0 lead, and a second break saw her move 5-1 up and serving for the match.
After wasting one match point, she made no mistake with the second to eliminate Williams and book a second-round meeting with Heather Watson.