USA’s Sofia Kenin continued her good form from the previous season to enter her maiden Grand Slam semifinal on Tuesday. She defeated Ons Jabeur in her Australian Open 2020 quarterfinal in straight sets to get there.
The 21-year-old Kenin won 6-4, 6-4 against the first time quarterfinalist Jabeur at the Rod Laver Arena and will now take on the winner of the match between top seeded Ash Barty and previous year’s runner-up Petra Kvitova.
In doing so, Kenin overturned her own previous best of the fourth round at the 2019 French Open. Also playing in just her third Australian Open, Kenin had never gone past the second round at this tournament and will now gain enough points to at least skip to the 11th in the world.
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Kenin had an easy draw in her first three rounds before she needed to overcome 15-year-old American Coco Gauff in the fourth round after having lost the first set. She won the final set 6-0 in that one. Jabeur’s entry to the quarterfinal, which had made her the first ever Arab woman to do so at a Grand Slam saw her scythe through a draw full of fancied players.
She had upset Johanna Konta in the first round, before defeating Caroline Garcia in the second and ending the career of Caroline Wozniacki in the third. Then, she beat Wang Qiang, the winner against Serena Williams in her fourth round match.
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Interestingly, Jabeur outdid Kenin on both, the winners and unforced errors by some margin. She hit 34 winners to Kenin’s 14 but at the same time had 36 unforced errors as opposed to her opponent’s 16. Jabeur also smashed five aces without a single one from the American, who then double-faulted thrice.
It was Kenin’s better first serve percentage that helped her get through in straight sets.
?? Semis for Sonya ??@SofiaKenin advances to a first career Grand Slam final four downing Jabeur 6-4 6-4.#AusOpen | #AO2020 pic.twitter.com/NmMLbx1lhF
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2020
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