Rogers Cup 2018: Françoise Abanda eliminated following loss to Sloane Stephens

Alec Gearty

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Rogers Cup 2018: Françoise Abanda eliminated following loss to Sloane Stephens image

The last Canadian woman left standing in Montreal has fallen.

Françoise Abanda, who received a wild card entry into the 2018 Rogers Cup, quickly became overmatched by No. 3 Sloane Stephens' dominant performance on Wednesday afternoon. Stephens defeated Abanda in straight sets, 6-0 6-2, to earn a spot in the third round.

Abanda held the initial advantage as a result of the coin flip. While many thrive when serving, Abanda created a difficult situation to emerge from. She managed to steal two points when she held serve against Stephens, who seized a 4-0 lead in the first set. Abanda maintained her ground heading late into the set.

The 21-year-old faced seven break points, in Stephen's favor, in the seemingly never-ending game. Abanda, however, was unable to string together two points to close out the game and decrease the deficit. Stephens capped off the first-set shutout four points later. 

Stephens catapulted to a 4-1 lead in the second set over Abanda. While Stephens broke two of Abanda's first three services, the Canadian struck back to narrow the deficit to two games. Then, the two were engaged in another battle in the second set.

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The American gained a 40-0 lead over Abanda before the latter roared back to force deuce on four separate instances. Like the first set's fifth game, Abanda struggled to take consecutive points over Stephens in order to win the battle.  

Abanda's run may have seem short, but that wasn't the case among Canadian women at the Rogers Cup. Fellow notables Genie Bouchard and Carol Zhao were eliminated in the first round, while Bianca Andreescu withdrew due to a back injury. 

Stephens' advances to face Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro on Thursday, with a spot in the quarterfinal on the line. 

Alec Gearty