WUHAN, China (AP) U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and runner-up Madison Keys were knocked out of the Wuhan Open in the first round on Monday.
In their first matches since the final at Flushing Meadows, the 17th-ranked Stephens lost to Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-2, while the 12th-ranked Keys was beaten by Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Stephens’ serve was broken early in both sets. Wang closed out the victory on her sixth match point.
The 22-year-old Keys, seeded 10th, broke Lepchenko early in the second set, but the Uzbekistan-born naturalized American rebounded to take the lead and eventually win in a tiebreaker.