CINCINNATI, OH, USA — No.8 seed Sloane Stephens of the United States pulled off a comeback win in the second round of the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday night, recovering from a one-set deficit to outlast Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Putintseva came into the match having won the last three of her four meetings with Stephens, including a second-round victory at Sydney in January, but it was Stephens who claimed victory on this occasion after two hours and seven minutes of play. The American ended a three-match losing streak, dating back to the third round of Wimbledon, in the process.

“It’s been pretty inconsistent for me on the hard courts,” Stephens said in her post-match press conference. “I was just looking for a win and trying to fight through.”

Stephens finished the match with 40 winners and 50 unforced errors, as she was the aggressor in the match against World No.42 Putintseva, who had nine winners and 18 unforced errors in total.

World No.10 Stephens ended up with one more service break in each of the final two sets to notch the win and enter the Cincinnati round of 16 in each of the last seven times she has contested the event (2012-2015, 2017-present). 

Stephens, a Cincinnati semifinalist in 2017, will now take on wildcard Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the round of 16. Two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova came back from two match points down to overcome Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine earlier on Wednesday, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-2.