Advertising

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, first up on the stadium court at the Citi Open was an opening-round showdown between world No. 2 Simona Halep and world No. 957 Sloane Stephens.

Yes, you read that right, No. 957. The 2015 Washington champion has been out of commission since the Olympics with a left foot injury. Needing surgery, Stephens made her official comeback at Wimbledon after 10 long months away. The American then made eight appearances for the Philadelphia Freedoms in World TeamTennis, but hasn't won a match since her third-round run at the All England Club last year.

"Coming from WTT is not easy, so I think I did pretty well to just do the best that I could," Stephens said. "I got a little frustrated in the second ... [By] playing more matches I think it'll go better.

"It probably would have been useful if I had won any of the WTT matches. No, I didn't play that great, so that was kind of frustrating."

She also would have benefitted from a better draw. Across the net from her on Tuesday was an in-form top-seeded Halep, who is trying to put some tough losses behind her by stocking up on hard-court matches.

Advertising

Halep has been lucky to have her health and play a very full schedule this year (43 matches so far), while Stephens, a former world No. 11, has been sidelined so often that she had time to dabble in reporting for Tennis Channel.

Advertising

"I would love to work for Tennis Channel after I finish playing tennis—hopefully that's a long time from now" Stephens said. "...I was in a very sad place in my life. I had a big boot on and a huge walking thing, and it was just not fun. They made it a really good time for me. It was actually the highlight of my year so far."

Stephens was happy to return to the site of her first WTA title. Halep, on the other hand, actually wanted to be in Stanford this week, which awards the winner 190 more points than D.C.

“I chose this tournament because I asked for a wild card in Stanford and Washington, and Stanford said no and Washington said yes,” Halep said. “So I'm really happy I received this wild card.”

Competing in D.C. for the first time ever, Halep has made some local Romanian fans very happy.

"It's nice to have Romanians in the stands and cheering for you," Halep said. "It feels like I have support everywhere I'm going, so it's nice that it's in Washington, too."

It won’t surprise anyone to hear that Stephens made a lot more unforced errors than the rock-steady Halep, piling up 48 to Halep’s 23 in the 7-6 (3), 6-0 loss. Neither player produced winners in the double digits.

"To make errors that I normally wouldn't make—even though I haven't played in a year—is still very frustrating," Stephens said. "I think it's more: Why did I miss that shot or why did I double fault? I don't double fault that much. Just little stuff. It's hard coming back. You don't really know what to expect from yourself."

To her credit, Stephens stayed with Halep throughout the first set, but just when she needed stability most, she would throw in a double fault or a wild forehand error. After almost a full year away, the 24-year-old is understandably rusty.

"I'm happy to be back, and just hopefully I'm going to work my way back to where I was before," Stephens said.

Halep has her sights set on repeating, or even surpassing, her past performances in the U.S. Open Series. Last year, she won in Montreal, reached the semifinals in Cincinnati and made the quarterfinals in New York. Meanwhile, Stephens is just focused on getting her first win.

"I just have to play a lot of matches," Stephens said. "I don't know exactly how long it's going to take me, but eventually I will beat someone."

Simona Halep extends Sloane Stephens' losing streak in Washington

Simona Halep extends Sloane Stephens' losing streak in Washington

Advertising

—Watch full match coverage on Grandstand 1 and Grandstand 2 LIVE from the Citi Open.

—Miss the action at the Citi Open? Watch encore coverage on demand exclusively available on Tennis Channel Plus.

—Can’t make it to Kitzbuhel? Watch all the coverage LIVE on Tennis Channel Plus. Check out the stacked draw featuring Pablo Cuevas, Fabio Fognini and Paolo Lorenzi.

—Get Tennis Channel Plus for 650+ live events all year long.

—Tennis Channel Plus is available on any streaming device, on mobile, always on the GO (desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire). Subscribe today at BuyTCPlus.com.