The eighth-seeded Sofia Kenin is out of the WTA 500 Sydney Classics after losing her first-round match versus the Russian player Daria Kasatkina with 2-0 (6:4, 6:0). The match lasted only 64 minutes and only the first set had some drama.
The American Sofia Kenin missed 7 break points during the match, all saved by her opponent.
The first set started equal and both players won their service games in the beginning and the result was moving to 3:3, despite saving totally four break points. Sofia Kenin even had two break points in the sixth game, but Daria Kasatkina saved them and eventually won her service hame. In the seventh game, however, the Russian player received a break point at 30-40 and did not miss her chance to use it, taking an advantage. The eight game was also very dramatic, as Sofia Kenin had her chance to return the break, but again lost it. Thus, Daria Kasatkina took the lead of 5:3 and confidently moved to win the set, but it was not as easy as she wanted. Sofia Kenin won her service game and Daria Kasatkina was service for the match at result 5:4. The Russian made several mistakes and gave two break points at result 15-40, which were lost by Sofia Kenin. After the deuce, the American player had another break point, which was saved again by Daria Kasatkina. In the end, however, the Russian won her service game and the set by 6:4.
Sofia Kenin was destabilized after the first set and lost her first service game of the second set. Daria Kasatkina won her service game on 15 and made another break on zero. After taking a lead of 4:0, Sofia Kenin did not give any resistance to the Russian player and the set ended with a result of 6:0.
Daria Kasatkina will face the winner of the match between Fiona Ferro and Elise Mertens.
In the other matches of the first round, the fifth-seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa qualified for the next round, beating the former French Open Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) with 2-0 (7:6, 6:1).
“A game against Elena is always difficult. She is a difficult player and you never know how good this day can be, so I am really happy with my first victory of the year,” said Badosa.
The fourth-seeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit eliminated Shuai Zhang (China) with 2-0 (6:3, 6:3).
Romanian Jaqueline Adina Cristian also qualified for the second round after winning her match versus Priscilla Hon by 2-0 (7:6, 7:5).
