Intro:

Sloane Stevens lost to China's Shuai Zhang in straight sets in the quarter-final of the WTA AEGON Classic in Birmingham, England on Friday (13th June).

Script:

Sloane Stephens met China's Shuai Zhang in the quarter-finals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.

The American, World No 19 would of been confident having beaten Zhang on their previous two meetings.

Yet Zhang was up an early break in the first set and she took the opening set 6-3.

This was the pair's first meeting on grass and it was a one sided affair, the third seed Stephens going down 6-1 in the final set.

A comprehensive victory for the 9th seed means she will face Ana Ivanovic in the semi-finals. The No 1 seed had a straight sets victory over Klara Koukalova in her quarter-final tie.