Who is Sloane Stephens: Meet the new US Open champion, girlfriend of this MLS star

Serena Williams had skipped US Open, depriving home fans of top-quality action from a local star. Hopes were pinned on Venus, who had reached the final of the Australian Open earlier this year.

However, on Saturday, September 9, tennis fans at the Arthur Ashe Stadium were greeted to an all-American final, the first since Serena and Venus went head to head for the 2002 title in New York.

Two first time finalists in Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys battled for the crown and it was the former who emerged successful, winning her maiden Grand Slam title and taking home a winner's cheque worth $3.7m.

Stephens also became the first unseeded woman to win the US Open title since Kim Clijsters in 2009. The 24-year-old, who is currently ranked 83, will move to the 17th spot in the WTA rankings, which will be updated after the Grand Slam tournament.

Stephens, who had outclassed the likes of Roberta Vinci, Maria Sharapova-slayer Anastasija Sevastova and Venus Williams, was in fine form against 15th seed Keys in the final. She gave no chance to her higher-ranked opponent and clinched the title in straight sets (6-3, 6-0) win on Saturday.

The Florida-born tennis sensation showed hunger and determination in her comeback run after a foot injury, which kept her out of action for 11 months.

"It's incredible. I honestly had surgery January 23 and if someone had told me I'd win the US Open, I would have said it's impossible," Stephens said after her win on Saturday.

Here are a few more interesting facts that you should know about Stephens, who is touted to be the next Serena Williams of American tennis.

• Sloane Stephens was born to John Stephens, a former NFL star, and Sybil Smith, a Division 1 All-American swimmer, in 1993.
• Stephens took to tennis at the age of nine and made her professional debut in 2007.
• In 2009, Stephens' father died in a car accident, days ahead of her US Open juniors' competition.
  

  
• She played appeared in the main draw of a WTA event for the first time in 2010.
• At 18, Stephens became the youngest player to finish inside the top-100 of WTA rankings in 2011.
• Stephens had a decent year in 2012, in which she reached the semi-final of Strasbourg and Washington, to jump to the 38th spot in WTA rankings.
• 2013 was a breakthrough year in her career as she reached the semi-final of Australian Open, beating childhood idol Serena 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.
• In the same year, Stephens reached the quarter-final of Wimbledon.
• Stephens had to wait until 2015 to win her maiden WTA title -- Citi Open. She then went on to win three titles in 2016 -- Auckland Open, Mexican Open and Charleston Open.
• Stephens suffered a terrible foot injury in 2016 and was operated for the same in January this month.
• She was ranked 957th six weeks ago but moved nearly 900 spots to 83rd before US Open kickstarted last month.
• She has now become the first American women, apart from Venus and Serena, to win the US Open since 1998.
• Stephens is dating United States international football star Jozy Altidore.
  

  
• The 27-year-old, who features for Toronto FC in the Major League Soccer (MLS), was at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday, cheering his girlfriend during her semi-final against Venus.