Powerful American Sloane Stephens captured her second WTA Tour title with a straight-sets win against Julia Goerges at the ASB Classic. Stephens set up a showdown with Goerges after completing a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory over third seed Caroline Wozniacki earlier on Saturday - a match played across two days due to bad weather in Auckland.
The 22-year-old fifth seed returned to the court just hours later and continued where she left off, claiming a 7-5, 6-2 win against the German for her first trophy since taking out the Citi Open in August last year.
Stephens, who only tallied 18 unforced errors compared to Goerges' 33, looked nervous early after the first point of the match saw her frame the ball onto the roof, but the 2013 Australian Open semi-finalist eventually found her rhythm during a tense opening set.
Both players had break points but neither was able to make the most of their opportunities as the set went to serve until the 11th game. Goerges was the first to crack with a tie-break looming, Stephens converting the third of three break points in the game as she went on to serve out the set and gain control of proceedings.
And it was one-way traffic in the second after Stephens broke in the third and seventh games to leave two-time Tour winner Goerges still searching for her first crown since 2011.
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