Sloane Stephens Wins First Title in Over Two Years at 2024 Open de Rouen
The American faced off against Magda Linette of Poland in the final.
Sloane Stephens of the United States, 31, defeated Magda Linette of Poland, 32, to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Open de Rouen in Rouen, France (a WTA 250 event). The score in the final was 6-1, 2-6 and 6-2 in favor of Stephens.
This was the fourth match Linette and Stephens have played against each other on the WTA Tour - with Stephens winning all of their prior meetings. However, they haven’t faced off since September 2019! Today’s victory was the first title Stephens has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the eighth title of her career in single’s competition. Notably, this was the first title she has claimed since prevailing at the Abierto Zapopan in February 2022. And finally, this was the second title she has taken at a clay court event.
Heading into this tournament, Stephens was ranked as the Number 39 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Linette carried the Number 60 designation. By winning in Rouen, Stephens has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Linette has picked up 163 points.
Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland (No. 77) was the tournament’s reigning champion when the competition was a 125 Challenger event last year. She didn’t participate in the main draw this year. Stephens was the event’s sixth seed.
Stephens arrived in the final after winning against Peyton Stearns of the United States (No. 79), Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic (No. 47), Yuan Yue of China (No. 38), and Caroline Garcia of France (No. 23). She prevailed against the event’s second and fourth seeds to win the title.
In the other half of the main draw, Linette defeated Elsa Jacquemot of France (No. 157), Natalija Stevanović of Serbia (No. 204), Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands (No. 53), and Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine (No. 32). She knocked out the event’s third seed to reach the final.
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, April 22. The tour will then play one tournament between April 23 and May 5: the Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain (a WTA 1000 event). The competition will be played on clay courts.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (No. 2) is the reigning champion at the Madrid Open. She is looking to defend the title as the event’s second seed this year. While the Number 1 ranking won’t be in contention based on the tournament’s outcome, Sabalenka and Coco Gauff of the United States (No. 3) will be competing for the Number 2 position.