Sloane Stephens — Getty ImagesBefore last week, if you were checking out the 2013 Australian Open draw, a quarterfinal match-up of Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens would have been a pretty exciting prospect.
Williams, the 15-time Grand Slam champion, has been an inspiration for Stephens, who at 19 seems to be the "next big thing" in American tennis. After her 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 win over Bojana Jovanovski, Stephens was asked about the potential of a quarterfinal meeting with Williams (Serena still had to play her fourth round match against Maria Kirilenko, that she won easily 6-2, 6-0) and the 19-year-old seemed downright giddy about the possibility. Stephens, who has never made it to a Grand Slam quarterfinals nor beat Williams in a match) mentioned that before the fourth round Williams reached out to her and mentioned she needed to make more noise on the court (i.e., grunting during shots).
It was a fun little moment that showed just how excited Stephens must be to have made it this far in Melbourne and how these
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