US Open 2022: Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen.
Date: August 30, 2022.
Tournament: US Open 2022.
Round: First round (Round of 128).
Venue: New York, United States.
Category: Grand Slam.
Surface: Hard.
Prize money: $60,102,000.
Live telecast: USA - ESPN & ESPN2 | Canada - TSN | UK - Amazon Prime Video | India - Sony Liv, Sony Ten & Sony Six.
Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen preview
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens will take on Belgium's Greet Minnen in the first round of the 2022 US Open on Tuesday.
Stephens' season has been rather average so far, with quite a few early exits clubbed with the occasional good result. Emma Raducanu knocked her out in the first round of the Australian Open at the start of the year. The American rebounded by winning her first title in four years at the WTA 250 in Guadalajara.
Stephens lost to Naomi Osaka in the first round at Indian Wells, while going one round further in Miami, where she lost to Jessica Pegula. She didn't win a single match on clay in the lead-up to the French Open. However, the 29-year old still made it to the quarterfinals in Paris.
Stephens ended her grass swing without a win. Her results heading into the US Open haven't been that good either. She fell in the opening round of the Citi Open. She then lost to World No. 3 Maria Sakkari and top-ranked Iga Swiatek in Canada and Cincinnati respectively.
A former US Open champion, Stephens will be looking to recapture some of the magic that led her all the way to the title in 2017.
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Greet Minnen has had an extremely disappointing season, managing to win just a couple of main draw matches so far. She had to wait until June before she notched up her first victory of the season. The Belgian defeated Misaki Doi in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open, before losing to Sabine Lisicki in the next round.
Despite her terrible form, Minnen scored the first top-10 win of her career by knocking out Garbine Muguruza in the first round of Wimbledon. She lost to Qinwen Zheng after that. She was unable to build upon these couple of victories and started to accumulate a string of losses once again.
Minnen competed in a couple of events in Washington and Granby to prepare for the US Open, but lost in the first round. She made it to the third round in New York last year, her best result at a Grand Slam so far.
Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen head-to-head
This will be the first meeting between them, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0 for now.
Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen odds
(All odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Sloane Stephens vs Greet Minnen prediction
While Stephens hasn't set the tour on fire with her results this year, she has been infinitely better than Minnen. However, the Belgian played the match of her life to oust Muguruza at Wimbledon, so the 2017 US Open champion shouldn't let her guard down.
Stephens' most recent losses have come against top-10 players and she didn't go down without a fight either. Her footwork remains pretty decent, and her forehand can whip up some winners from all corners of the court. Minnen will aim to attack the American's serve, an inconsistent aspect of her game.
However, it's hard to overlook how dismal Minnen's season has been. The match against Muguruza was an exception for her, not the norm. Not to mention Muguruza herself is having a hard time this year. So long as Stephens manages to remain steady, she should be able to get across the finish line.
Pick: Sloane Stephens to win in straight sets.