Defending champion Sofia Kenin tumbled out the Australian Open with a
stunning second-round defeat to Kaia Kanepi but world No 1 Ashleigh
Barty made it safely through.
The American claimed her maiden Grand Slam at last year’s event but
any hopes of a repeat performance ended in the second round as she was
well beaten 6-3 6-2 by the Estonian.
Kenin has been reduced to tears on court on several occasions since
she came out of quarantine in Melbourne and admitted she has been
struggling to contain her nerves at the prospect of defending the
title.
“I felt like I obviously wasn’t there. My head wasn’t there.
Obviously, I’m not going to take any credit away from her, she played
really well at those good points, I had chances, I just couldn’t take
it, I obviously know why because the nerves big-time got to me,”
admitted Kenin.
Ashleigh Barty came out on top of the all-Australian battle with
Daria Gavrilova to make it through to the third round.
Barty looked on course for a comfortable win on the Rod Laver Arena as
she was serving for the match at 6-1 5-2 before a Gavrilova comeback
saw her take the second set to tiebreak.
