Just a week ago, Peyton Stearns won the Morocco Open against unranked Mayar Sherif in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 for her first WTA title. Now she has defeated the No.10 player in the world Daria Kasatkina. Stearns beat the Russian in the second round of the French Open on Thursday. It has been a mighty ascent for Peyton Stearns, who turned pro just two years ago.
Earlier this month, when Stearns forgot to sign up for the Italian Open’s qualifying draw, she was left feeling annoyed with herself and frustrated that she wouldn’t be able to play in the key lead-up tournament to the French Open.
She then decided to have a spontaneous training week with her coach in Nice, France. The results speak for themselves. Now, Peyton Stearns is just one win away from reaching the second week at a major for the first time in her career.
Peyton Stearns’ Player Profile
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Peyton Stearns is from Cincinnati, Ohio. She played college tennis at the University of Texas where she was a three-time All-American. The team won back-to-back NCAA titles while Stearns was in Austin. She has a career record of 146-95. Her current ranking is 62. She reached a high of 43 in September of 2023.
Professional tennis players that also played college tennis are a bit of a rare thing. When professional tennis became a more lucrative career in the 1980s, players wanted to capitalize on that money and turned pro at a very young age, just like NBA legends LeBron James and Kobe Bryant did.
15 of the top 100 professional male players played college tennis, including Ben Shelton and Chris Eubanks.
It is not as common in the women’s game though. Top players like Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, and Coco Gauff, all did not play college tennis and turned pro when they were 15 years old. The most prominent woman on the WTA tour who played college tennis is Danielle Collins, the No. 10 player, and a fellow American.
Although, it is not very common to play collegiate tennis and then turn pro, when you win two NCAA titles and are a three-time All-American, a player like Peyton Stearns has a good chance to be successful at the highest level in the sport.
Stats Of Peyton Stearn’s French Open 2nd Round Win
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The 22-year-old American was down 3-0 in the first set but rallied to win 7-5. Stearns converted an incredible six of her eight break point chances, showing the importance of breaking serve. She had a 52% win percentage on her 2nd serve compared to Daria Kasatkina’s 38%.
The former University of Texas player capitalized on both her first and second serve, a tough feat to accomplish sometimes. Not only did she excel at her serving, but she also controlled her receiving points, winning 35 to Kasatkina’s 31.
Peyton Stearns went on quite the tear in this match, winning six games in a row. Her opponent only won a maximum of two consecutive games.
After forgetting to sign up for a tournament just three weeks ago, Peyton Stearns has done quite well for herself and has had a solid French Open and 2024 season so far.
About The Author
Cooper Sherman is an avid NFL fan and enjoys watching and covering it the most. The NFL is king. He previously wrote and was a podcaster for the online publications Pro Sports Fanatics and Jersey Column. He is also an NBA fan and watches it occasionally, more when the NFL season ends. Tennis is also an underrated sport to watch. His teams are the Patriots and Celtics, as tough as it is to be a Patriots fan right now. He is optimistic that Jerod Mayo will turn this team in the right direction! Follow him on Instagram and Threads @coopstershermy456, and X/Twitter @justcoopthings.
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