US Open 2017: Sloane Stephens shocks 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova to reach semis

Stephens raced to the first set playing some superb tennis to the delight of her home crowd.

But her Latvian opponent defied an unspecified injury niggle to hit back in the second set and send the match to a nervy decider.

Forced to work hard on her service games, American Sloane responded well to going a break down and earned herself a shot at an upset in a match-deciding tie-break.

And Sevastova’s big ground strokes let her down in the final stanza, with the 27-year-old missing the tramlines four times to help Stephens to three match points.

She needed just one, hammering a winner down the line and breaking into a beaming smile as she celebrated a superb win.

Sloane's victory continues her remarkable comeback since returning from surgery at Wimbledon, with the 24-year-old rising a remarkable 923 spots in the world ranking in just one month.

The young American broke onto the world stage in 2013 when she beat Serena Williams en-route to the Australian Open semis, but has struggled to establish herself since that breakthrough season, failing to progress beyond the first round of a hard court Grand Slam in her last three attempts.

However, a happier, technically assured Stephens returned a better player in 2017 and will face either Venus Williams or Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals later this week.