The outsider gatecrashes Barty’s backyard party
MELBOURNE: Sofia Kenin never flinched.
Not when she was twice a point from dropping the opening set of her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. Not when she was twice a point from dropping the second set, either.
And now the American is into her first major final at age 21— and she beat the woman ranked No. 1 to get there. Kenin came back in each set to stop home hope Ash Barty’s bid to give Australia a long-awaited singles champion at Melbourne Park and pull out a 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory on a stiflingly hot Thursday.
“I was telling myself: ‘I believe in myself. If I lose the set, I’m still going to come out and believe,’” said the 14th-seeded Kenin, who never had been past the fourth round at a major. “Yeah, I really did a great job. I didn’t give up.”
This was not Barty’s first foray onto this stage: She won the French Open last June, beating Kenin along the way. But Barty was hardly at her best Thursday, especially at the most crucial moments, perhaps burdened by the task of trying to become the first Australian woman since 1980 to get to the final of the country’s Grand Slam. “Unfortunately, couldn’t quite scrap enough to get over the line,” said Barty, who held her niece on her lap at the post-match news conference. “Just didn’t play the biggest points well enough to win.”
Instead, Kenin is the first American other than a Williams sister to reach the Australian Open final since Lindsay Davenport in 1995. And Kenin is the first American woman to beat the No 1 player at any major since Serena topped Venus at Wimbledon in 2002.
“She has the ability to adapt,” Barty said. “She’s extremely confident at the moment.”
Those inside the sport know. But Kenin has been overshadowed by some of the many other American women making waves in recent years. “I mean, yeah, I know people haven’t really paid attention much to me in the past. I had to establish myself, and I have,” Kenin said. “Of course, now I’m getting the attention, which I like. Not going to lie.”
Kenin, who was born in Russia and moved to Florida as a baby, burst onto the scene in 2019 by winning three singles titles, upsetting Serena Williams in the third round at Roland Garros, and soaring from No 52 to No 12 in the rankings. She didn’t face a seeded player in this tournament until Thursday, but did eliminate 15-year-old sensation Coco Gauff in the fourth round.
On Saturday, Kenin will go up against unseeded Garbiñe Muguruza.
Barty and Kenin stepped out in Rod Laver Arena in the early afternoon under a cloudless sky and a vibrant sun. The temperature topped 38°C in the first set, 10 to 15° hotter than it’s been for much of a chillier-than-usual 1½ weeks so far at Melbourne Park.
Neither woman was at her best in the opening set. Kenin loves to deliver drop shots, luring her opponent to the net, and follow them up with perfectly parabolic lobs, and she used that combination a few times. But otherwise, she and Barty both were making all sorts of mistakes.
Barty had nearly twice as many winners as Kenin in the first set, 22-12, thanks in large part to eight aces. She gathered more total points, too: 46-44. But that doesn’t matter at all in tennis, of course. Barty was a point from taking that set when she led 6-4 in the tiebreaker after slapping a 78 mph second serve for a forehand return winner, prompting Kenin to bounce her racquet off the court and shake her head.
Maybe that helped release some tension, because Kenin wouldn’t lose another point in the set. Barty broke early in the second and led 5-3, then served for it at 5-4, but stumbled once more, giving away the last three games.
Kenin now will climb into the top 10 of the rankings. One more win, and she’ll achieve something even more significant: The right to call herself a Grand Slam champion.