Sloane Stephens scored a 2026 Guadalajara Open quarterfinal berth on Tuesday after a tight, two-tiebreak win over Janice Tjen. The 2017 US Open champion prevailed 7-6(4), 7-6(3) against the fifth-seeded Indonesian at the WTA 500 event in Mexico. The match ran just under two hours in their debut head-to-head WTA Tour battle.
WTA Veteran Sloane Stephens Edges Janice Tjen in Tiebreaks
Tjen entered the round of 16 with momentum after scoring a 7-6(5), 6-2 WTA 500 win over Czech player Darja Vidmanova in the first round. Her serve posed problems all afternoon, producing 11 aces to just two from Stephens.
Still, neither player managed a break in the opening set, needing a tiebreak to decide it. Stephens pulled ahead early and closed it 7-4.
But the second frame looked a bit different.
Tjen built a 5-2 lead, earning two chances to take the set. However, the 33-year-old US star then won three consecutive games to draw level at 5-5. Another tiebreak followed, and she proved steadier once more, taking it 7-3. Despite the lopsided ace count, Stephens won 80 total points to Tjen's 74.
On the other side of the bracket, Peyton Stearns upset fourth-seeded Diane Parry 6-2, 7-5. That result puts Stearns and Stephens on course for tomorrow's all-US quarterfinal, live on Tennis Channel.
