Birthday girl Sloane Stephens makes light work of Angelique Kerber to begin Miami Open campaign

Turning 31 today, Sloane Stephens celebrated with an opening win at the Miami Open making short work of Angelique Kerber in just 70 minutes 6-2, 6-3.

Stephens' record against Kerber now stands at 6-2 overall after they have played each other over the course of 12 years. Her only losses were in 2012 and 2021 and that run of continued form against the former World No.1 continued. She will now face Sorana Cirstea in the second round. They have already played twice in 2024 splitting their meetings including Stephens winning in Indian Wells two weeks ago.

For Kerber, it is a dampener after a good week in California. She reached the fourth-round before losing to Caroline Wozniacki. It was the first time she had won consecutive matches since returning from maternity leave. But she will now move on likely to the clay court season and in particular Stuttgart where she has a wildcard, for Stephens it will be celebrations and then a return for the second round.

"A very great day at the office," Stephens said in the post-match interview. "I feel like I had the biggest party ever, and you guys all came out."

"[Kerber was] one of the first people I ever played on tour," she said. "I was up 6-2, 5-2 and I ended up losing the match. It was the hardest match I'd ever lost. After that, I just got it into my head to play her. Obviously she's such a great champion and she's had so many great results and a career people can only dream of, so to be able to play well against her is incredible."