Kenin rallies, ruins championship dream for Gauff
MELBOURNE, Australia — It made sense to Sofia Kenin that Coco Gauff would be the one getting all of the attention and generating all of the buzz.
That’s only natural when Gauff is 15 and making tennis history time and time again.
“Yeah, I mean, the hype is for her. She’s obviously done great stuff, of course. It’s absolutely normal. Just [tried] not to let that get in my head,” Kenin said. “Of course, I didn’t do it for the hype. I did it for myself, because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”
Well, Sofia, you did it. Now get ready for the spotlight to shine your way. Kenin stopped Gauff ’s latest Grand Slam run by beating her 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open’s fourth round on Sunday.
Like the Delray Beach resident Gauff, Kenin is a young — although, at 21, not quite as young — American and she reached her first major quarterfinal with the victory.
“I want to show who I am, show my best tennis, show why I’m there, why I belong,” the 14th-seeded Kenin said. “I’m doing that.”
In her previous match, the 67th-ranked Gauff beat Naomi Osaka to become the youngest player in the professional era to defeat the reigning women’s champion at the Australian Open. At Wimbledon last year, Gauff became the youngest qualifier ever at that tournament, beat Venus Williams in the first round and made it all the way to the fourth.
Entering Sunday, Gauff was 8-2 in Grand Slam action, with her only losses to women who have been ranked No. 1 and own multiple major titles: Halep (at Wimbledon) and Osaka (at the U.S. Open).
Hence the hype.
“I couldn’t aforementioned really write this,” Gauff said. “I don’t think anybody could really write how this past (several) months have gone.”
She did not play as well as she has been this time, though, winding up with 48 unforced errors, more than twice as many as Kenin’s 22.
Gauff’s power is impressive. One tiny indication: She slammed a forehand into the net so hard that it dislodged a piece of a sponsor’s white plastic sign. Kenin can’t copy that. But thanks to her relentless ball-tracking and a bit of in-your-face attitude with a racket in hand, Kenin surged up the WTA rankings from 52nd to 12th in 2019 while winning her first three tour-level singles titles plus a couple in doubles.
“She definitely put a lot of balls in the court,“Gauff said. “She’s quick.”
Just before Gauff announced herself last season, Kenin delivered her own breakthrough at the French Open by upsetting Serena
Williams to get to the round of 16 at a major for the first time.
Now Kenin has taken another step.
Wasn’t easy, though. After double-faulting twice in the tiebreaker to drop the opening set — “For sure, nerves,” Kenin acknowledged — she immediately tilted things the other way, breaking in the initial game of the second and never letting that lead slip away.
When it ended, appropriately enough, on a missed backhand by Gauff, Kenin dropped her racket at the baseline and covered her face as tears welled in her eyes.
“Anyone would get pretty emotional for the first time,” said Kenin, who next faces another woman making her Slam quarterfinal debut, 78th-ranked Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.
Jabeur was a 7-6 (4), 6-1 winner against 27th-seeded Wang Qiang, who surprised
Serena Williams in the third round.
The wins for Kenin and Jabeur ended at about the same time, and the future opponents soon found each other cooling down side-byside on exercise bicycles.