Tennis Boxing from Miami
Sloane Stephens vs Amanda Anisimova
(WTA Ranking: #40 vs #31)
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL

{{{ Story based on a real-life tennis match from the second round of Miami Open few weeks ago }}}

BEFORE: Time flies fast in WTA and days of Sloane Stephens being the future of US tennis belong to the past as Next Gen starlets are ready to breakthrough instead. Enter Amanda Anisimova, still a teenager until August, who is set to earn millions over the next few years based on a very pricey endorsement deal with sportswear giant Nike rumoured to be in the Maria Sharapova blockbuster range. The only problem? The blonde right-hander has to win some big events as her pre-pandemic endeavours have more or less been reset come 2021 season.

Meanwhile Sloane is four years removed from winning the US Open title and has developed a nasty habit of not putting enough work ethic into non-Grand Slam events. Both she and Madison Keys have battled several result-related issues over the last few years and some experts believe it's time to turn the page on Sloane's elite tenure. Let's see if she can hold off the Next Gen charge here in Miami tonight!

Sloane Stephens wears a pink crop top, matching hip-huggers & white gloves. Long black hair wrapped in a bun at the back of her head. Amanda Anisimova wears a turquoise crop top, matching hotpants & yellow gloves. Long blonde hair tied in a braid. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the welterweight division.

Round 1:
Both girls try to break through with some early jabbing but struggle to connect with their punches until Sloane whips a quick harpoon to the blonde's body and settles downstairs to send Amanda backwards. The subsequent hassle doesn't bring Stephens much success but allows her to make her opponent look a little spooked as Anisimova fails to deliver a meaningful counter-punching response and spends majority of the round dancing around on her toes instead. Sloane keeps punishing her with a single-hand delivery but gets locked into a lenghty clinch even when she finally manages to trap Anisimova in the corner. She blasts more shots in the exposed ribcage but Amanda lands the last punch of the round as she smacks Stephens across the mouth right at the bell.

Round 2:
Sloane tries to find more success downstairs but leaves herself exposed to quick response over the top however Amanda just can't follow through with her shots and gets stuffed to the body again. She clinches the older compatriot only for Stephens to shove her back and try her chances in mid-distance thereafter. A couple of looping hooks tag Sloane on the temples but she drives it back up the middle and plugs the solar plexus sending Anisimova into a speedy retreat. Sloane barks in her efforts but she just can't close the lively blonde down and has to rely on artistic impression performance rather than punishing the teenager outright. That allows her to claim the round on points but not much else.

Round 3:
Amanda stuns Sloane with a left/right cross from point-blank range and beats her for a follow up series that crashes into the former US Open champion's face and bends her to the side. Ugh! Amanda takes over the slugging drill and pummels the older American onto the ropes where she drives more punches into her face and drops Stephens into a desperate earmuff cover. All Anisimova here in the second minute as she picks the subdued foe from both flanks until she kinda runs out of steam and gets clinched against the run of play. She thumps Sloane in the ribcage as she tries to break free but Sloane holds her in check and almost wrestles her down to the canvas during a lenghty struggle for physical supremacy.

Round 4:
Anisimova gets more aggressive and begins to beat Sloane to every punch now which results in the older girl's head snapping back & forth as she slowly loses the grip on this fight. Amanda powers ahead with some accurate striking and has Stephens on the move as the former USO champ just can't match the slugging velocity and yields real estate on purpose. Meanwhile Amanda keeps swinging high and tags Sloane's temples before trapping her on the turnbuckle where she applies the phone booth assault to drop the older compatriot behind a desperate earmuff again. And this time Sloane just can't stall the barrage as she gets blasted on the mouth and slumps on her knees amid some quiet spasms come the bell.

Round 5:
Sloane tries to find her groove punching the blonde to the body but gets barged in the chest with a stray elbow before Amanda rips through her high-guard and snaps the head back again. Stephens tries to fire back from her heels but only bounces off the teenager's forearms and eats more scything blows on the lips which begin to swell down the stretch. Sloane's footwork is not good enough to escape Anisimova's slugging menace and she gets thumped back to the ropes where the youngster unloads from both flanks to drop the older woman into loud shrieks come the final minute. And Amanda wants more! She pounds away in ultra-aggressive fashion to add more lumps onto Sloane's face and some lesser name would have gone down here already but Stephens survives the onslaught if only she looks extremely shaken up at the bell. Ugh! She almost heads to the wrong corner before the ref turns her away.

Round 6:
Sloane is slow to get up here and gets bulldozed by another steaming assault from the aggressive teenager... Amanda rips through the leaky high-guard and pounds more leather into Sloane's face which triggers a vicious one-sided beatdown. Stephens can't even land a single punch in response and drops her mitts wholesale when Anisimova blows her on each temple for like the fourth time in this round alone... cue in that empty look in her eyes and Amanda SMOKES her with one nasty hook on the brow ridge too many... Sloane gives up the ghost and collapses on her side simply unable to take all this punishment anymore!!! Ref thinks she can still recover but then realizes it's a complete no-go for the former USO champion so he waves the count off at seven. KO6 Amanda Anisimova as Next Gen rules supreme in Miami!!!

AFTER: Amanda struts back to her corner and doesn't even celebrate this emphatic victory all that much. She showed glimpses of real power that can steal all the WTA headlines in the world but Sloane still got some juicy punches in there before the momentum eventually shifted into the teenager's favor. Nike executives should be proud of their designated glamour girl's performance but we've seen those best laid out plans go to waste overnight before. Let's hope Amanda Anisimova escapes the fate of Eugenie Bouchard whose elite moment in the sun barely lasted 18 months before it all fell apart.

Official Result: Amanda Anisimova def. Sloane Stephens KO6 (Tennis score was 6-3, 6-3).