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Vinay Nayudu
Doha
To be a Grand Slam champion is one thing and to continue being in the same vein is another! That was what Margaret Court had remarked during the course of the Australian Open earlier this year.
Perhaps, Sofia Kenin is still trying to figure that out since lifting the Daphne Trophy in Melbourne. Her worst fears in Doha came true on Tuesday when she crashed to a tough opponent in teenager Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine in the second round of Qatar Total Open 2020.
Credit though should not be taken away from the 19-year-old Yastremska, who has been serving notice of her latent talent for a while having already won three titles.
The Ukrainian, who has former world No. 1 Justine Henin as her consultant, needed just two sets to shock sixth seeded Kenin 6-3, 7-6 (4) on court 2 at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
“It’s really frustrating,” said Kenin. “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.”
Acknowledging Yastremska’s good work, she quipped, “She played really well. I just feel like I can’t find my game, I’m not playing the way I want to be playing, so it’s pretty frustrating right now.
“Credit to her, she played well, came up with some good shots at those important moments. She just played better at important moments and I just made too many unforced errors, I just felt pretty flat footed the whole match.”
Later in the evening, the tall Kazakh Elena Rybakina and Swiss Belinda Bencic came back from the brink to secure their places in the round of 16.
While the 14th seeded Rybakina saved a match point to knock out big-hitting Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(8), Bencic made for missing a match point of her own before defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4).
Bencic, seeded four, was given a tough time by Kudermetova, a fellow 22-year-old, who put on an impressive performance, particularly on serve with 13 aces - seven of which coming in the final set - and broke early in the second set after losing the first. Bencic broke back late as she looked to sweep the match in straight sets, but the Russian was undeterred, breaking once more to force a decider.
Down a break once more, Bencic turned the tables on Kudermetova and earned her first match point in the tenth game. Kudermetova gamely saved it and forced the issue in the following game, earning four break points on the Bencic serve that would seen her serving for the match.
Bencic saved them all and forced her way to a tie-break, one that she ultimately dominated after splitting the first six points. Her third match point put her over the finish line.
Rybakina ploughed her way back against Van Uytvanck, who pushed Petra Kvitova to three sets in St. Petersburg two weeks ago. Playing out on Court 2, the on-fire Kazakh needed five match points to put away the Belgian in two hours and 21 minutes, clinching the win with a searing forehand winner.
The day, however, saw two of former Qatar Open champions bowing out of the competition. Last year’s winner Elise Mertens of Belgium was accounted for by Kazakh Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, champion in Doha in 2016 was sent packing by 8th seeded Petra Kvitova 6-4, 3-6, 0-6.
World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty had no qualms whatsoever as she breezed into the next round with a smooth 6-3, 6-2 win over Laura Siegemund of Germany.
A player who traded tennis for cricket later said she was also keeping an eye on the women’s T20 Cricket World Cup being played in Australia. “The time zone’s actually quite nice here, having the afternoon schedule of tennis, the matches in Australia are in mid-morning and in the middle of the day, so, yeah, it was a nice morning to spend watching the girls kind of fight and scrap through that one (India vs Australia), but, yeah I’m glued to it,” she said.
Doha
To be a Grand Slam champion is one thing and to continue being in the same vein is another! That was what Margaret Court had remarked during the course of the Australian Open earlier this year.
Perhaps, Sofia Kenin is still trying to figure that out since lifting the Daphne Trophy in Melbourne. Her worst fears in Doha came true on Tuesday when she crashed to a tough opponent in teenager Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine in the second round of Qatar Total Open 2020.
Credit though should not be taken away from the 19-year-old Yastremska, who has been serving notice of her latent talent for a while having already won three titles.
The Ukrainian, who has former world No. 1 Justine Henin as her consultant, needed just two sets to shock sixth seeded Kenin 6-3, 7-6 (4) on court 2 at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
“It’s really frustrating,” said Kenin. “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.”
Acknowledging Yastremska’s good work, she quipped, “She played really well. I just feel like I can’t find my game, I’m not playing the way I want to be playing, so it’s pretty frustrating right now.
“Credit to her, she played well, came up with some good shots at those important moments. She just played better at important moments and I just made too many unforced errors, I just felt pretty flat footed the whole match.”
Later in the evening, the tall Kazakh Elena Rybakina and Swiss Belinda Bencic came back from the brink to secure their places in the round of 16.
While the 14th seeded Rybakina saved a match point to knock out big-hitting Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(8), Bencic made for missing a match point of her own before defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4).
Bencic, seeded four, was given a tough time by Kudermetova, a fellow 22-year-old, who put on an impressive performance, particularly on serve with 13 aces - seven of which coming in the final set - and broke early in the second set after losing the first. Bencic broke back late as she looked to sweep the match in straight sets, but the Russian was undeterred, breaking once more to force a decider.
Down a break once more, Bencic turned the tables on Kudermetova and earned her first match point in the tenth game. Kudermetova gamely saved it and forced the issue in the following game, earning four break points on the Bencic serve that would seen her serving for the match.
Bencic saved them all and forced her way to a tie-break, one that she ultimately dominated after splitting the first six points. Her third match point put her over the finish line.
Rybakina ploughed her way back against Van Uytvanck, who pushed Petra Kvitova to three sets in St. Petersburg two weeks ago. Playing out on Court 2, the on-fire Kazakh needed five match points to put away the Belgian in two hours and 21 minutes, clinching the win with a searing forehand winner.
The day, however, saw two of former Qatar Open champions bowing out of the competition. Last year’s winner Elise Mertens of Belgium was accounted for by Kazakh Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, champion in Doha in 2016 was sent packing by 8th seeded Petra Kvitova 6-4, 3-6, 0-6.
World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty had no qualms whatsoever as she breezed into the next round with a smooth 6-3, 6-2 win over Laura Siegemund of Germany.
A player who traded tennis for cricket later said she was also keeping an eye on the women’s T20 Cricket World Cup being played in Australia. “The time zone’s actually quite nice here, having the afternoon schedule of tennis, the matches in Australia are in mid-morning and in the middle of the day, so, yeah, it was a nice morning to spend watching the girls kind of fight and scrap through that one (India vs Australia), but, yeah I’m glued to it,” she said.
