Black Tennis Pros

Sloane Stephens is through to her sixth straight fourth-round appearance at a major after handily accounting for dangerous Russian lefty Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4.

In a more evenly-matched showdown than the scoreline would suggest, it was Stephens who converted when it mattered, winning three of four break points as opposed to Marakova’s one from four.

The American’s half-dozen fourth-round berths in a row is the most among any of her rivals on the Tour but the weight of expectation continues to mount. She is the highest-ranked player never to have won a title - and has yet to reach a final.

“Yeah, it's a great thing [the last 16 streak]. If I knew [why she plays better at Slams than in WTA events], I would capitalise on it. I would do it every week. But I guess it's all just a learning experience,” Stephens said. “I just peak at four tournaments a year. Every other tournament just gets me ready for these.”

Still a long way from the business end of the tournament, but Stephens is well-pitted to make the breakthrough on what she says is her favourite surface.

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American Taylor Townsend's valiant effort to gain as much depth as possible into the 2014 French Open has come to an end.  Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, the women's 14th seed, proved to be more competition on clay than Townsend could handle.

After the brief twenty-four minute first set, Townsend appeared to gather herself and put forth greater offense than she had in the first set, but even with her adjustments, Townsend was still no match for Navarro who began to steamroll the talented teen into a 6-2, 6-2 defeat.

Townsend used her brief run to bring a great deal of excitement to this year's French Open, especially in light of the Williams sisters being eliminated so early. She can certainly return home knowing that she put her best foot forward and that all of her hard work has been worth the effort.

Great Job Taylor!!

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