Tennis: Stephens out of puff

Fatigue caught up with New Zealand Fed Cup tennis representative Shelley Stephens in Belgium yesterday.

Stephens, who has had a heavy diet of competition in the past month, ran out of puff in a singles semifinal and the doubles final at a US$10,000 ($15,936) event at Zwevegen.

She lost her singles match 1-6, 6-2, 1-6 to Russian Ekaterina Kiranova, and she and Belgium's Leslie Butkiewicz, the second seeds, went down 3-6, 2-6 in the doubles to third seeds Zuzana Cerna, of the Czech Republic, and Aneta Soukup-Zahalka, of Canada.

In the past month, Stephens has won the singles and doubles titles at Tlemcen and at Sidi Fredj, in Algeria.