Sloane Stephens wins in Guadalajara for first title in four years

"It’s the beginning of the season, so there’s still a lot of tennis to be played, but I’m excited to be able to put some matches together," Stephens said in victory. "Excited that I was able to do that, get a title, and hopefully continue on with that momentum.

"I think I prepared all last year, I committed to training and my fitness and everything. Obviously I didn’t get results right away, but now seeing the fruits of that labor blossom is nice.

"I still want to get back to where I was, that’s still really important to me. I think it’s possible, it’s doable, so I’m really excited about that."

Having reunited with longtime coach Kamau Murray ahead of the event, Stephens opened her tournament with a victory over 14-year-old qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova in the first round—at No. 395, the Czech is the youngest player ranked inside the WTA's Top 1000—and followed that up with a straight-sets win over France's Chloe Paquet to reach the quarterfinals. She faced much more adversity in the last three rounds: she came from a set down to beat former Top 20 player Daria Saville of Australia (née Gavrilova) in the last eight, and benefitted from a retirement by Anna Kalinskaya due to a back injury after they split sets in the semifinals. 

She came from 4-1 down in the first set in eventually beating Bouzkova in a championship match that lasted 2 hours, 28 minutes. Bouzkova was bidding for her first career WTA title in her third appearance in a final.