By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Enduring a series of stops and starts in recent years, Sofia Kenin believes she’s taking a positive turn on the comeback trail.
World No. 149 Kenin rallied from love-5 down in the tiebreaker to fight off China’s Xinyu Wang 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
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Three years removed from her title run at the 2020 Australian Open, Kenin has captured just one title since her stunning run to her maiden major in Melbourne Park.
A brutal stretch last season saw Kenin drop nine straight matches before she snapped the slide reaching the Cleveland quarterfinals and playing a few WTA 125 events to end the season.
The American wild card says she’s healthy and hungry to turn things around this season.
“I’m just going to try to take one match at a time,” Kenin told the New Zealand Herald. “I feel fit. I’m happy with the way I feel on court.
“So it’s just a matter of things clicking for me and definitely I feel like if I keep going on this path, it should click.”
Kenin’s win vaults her into an Auckland round-of-16 clash vs. top-seeded Coco Gauff in a match of former French Open finalists. The 24-year-old Kenin beat Gauff in their lone prior Tour-level meeting en route to the 2020 Australian Open title.
The winner of the Gauff-Kenin match will face either 42-year-old Venus Williams or 84th-ranked Lin Zhu in the quarterfinals.
Photo credit: Getty
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