Defending women’s champ knocked out of Australian Open
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA >> Sofia Kenin, the reigning champion, was knocked out of the Australian Open on Thursday as unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat her decisively, 6-3, 6-2.
Kenin’s second-round defeat was the first major upset of the tournament. Kenin, the No. 4 seed, was the WTA Player of the Year in 2020, when she won the Australian Open in February and made the French Open final in October.
She has struggled to find her form this year, though.
“She obviously played well,” Kenin said, tears welling in her eyes during a post-match news conference. “I was obviously way too nervous.”
Kenin, a 22-year-old American, was never in the match against Kanepi, who is 35 and probably on the back end of her career. Physically imposing at 5-foot-11, Kanepi overpowered Kenin with 10 aces and also prompted her to make too many uncustomary errors. Kanepi closed out the match with two aces.
“I served well, and that helped me a lot,” Kanepi said after the match, which they played in humid, 90-degree weather. “My plan was to play aggressive.”
An hour after her defeat, Kenin could not explain where her game and the fearlessness she had sometimes displayed had gone.
“I really don’t know what I am doing right now,” she said. “I’m not there 100%, my game, physically, mentally.”
Kenin committed 22 unforced errors and failed to convert any of her seven break-point opportunities.
• Serena Williams recovered from a slow start to get past a challenge from a player who’s 20 years younger than she is. A year after a surprising loss in the third round at Melbourne Park, Williams managed to get past that stage by beating Russian teen Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Potapova served for the opening set at 5-3. But the 2016 Wimbledon junior champion double-faulted five times in that game, including twice on set point.
Williams — who has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles in Australia — then trailed 5-3 in the tiebreaker. But she took the next four points, the last on a 21-stroke exchange that ended with Potapova putting a forehand into the net.
• Rafael Nadal shrugged off some heckling from a spectator before beating American qualifier Michael Mmoh 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. Nadal was serving for the second set at 5-4 when a woman yelled out and made hand gestures as he prepared to serve. She yelled again at 30-0 and stadium security escorted her out of Rod Laver Arena. The rest of the crowd started booing and Nadal laughed.
He went back to work after the brief delay and hit two aces to finish off the set.
• Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat 16-year-old Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
• Fans will be banned from attending the Australian Open for five days starting today because of a COVID-19 outbreak at a quarantine hotel. The tournament will be allowed to continue as a workplace, but without crowds.