Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin suffered her third defeat since the title triumph in Melbourne, while world number one Ashleigh Barty ...
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin suffered her third defeat since the title triumph in Melbourne, while world number one Ashleigh Barty cruised to victory in the second round of the WTA Doha Open on Tuesday.
World number five Kenin, who defeated Garbine Muguruza to claim her maiden Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne, went down 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) against Ukrainian youngster Dayana Yastremska.
American Kenin lost one of her two matches in the United States’ Fed Cup qualifying win over Latvia, before being knocked out by in-form Kazakh Elena Rybakina in the Dubai opening round last week.
“It’s really frustrating,” the 21-year-old told wtatennis.com.
“Obviously coming off of Melbourne where I felt I was playing the best tennis of my life, coming down to playing, not the worst tennis, but not playing the tennis I want to be playing.”
The 19-year-old Yastremska will face Muguruza in the third round after the Spaniard made short work of Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, winning 6-1, 6-2.
“Creds to her, she played well, came up with some good shots at those important moments,” Kenin said of Yastremska, who has already won three WTA titles.
“She just played better at important moments and I just made too many unforced errors, I just felt pretty flat-footed the whole match.”
Barty strolled past German...
