Sloane Stephens Falls Short at Australian Open

After making news by defeating Serena Williams

For a moment it seemed that Sloane Stephens was heading for a replay of her previous match — losing the first set, seeing her opponent pull up at the start of the second with some sort of injury and then …

But she could not quite reproduce the full scenario of her upset against Serena Williams. Victoria Azarenka, playing like the world No. 1 for most of the match until, in her words, "I almost did the choke of the year" went through to the final by 6-1, 6-4.