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Australian Open: Defending champion Sofia Kenin and Heather Watson suffer defeats in Melbourne
Sofia Kenin won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2020
(Getty Images)Defending champion Sofia Kenin bowed out of the Australian Open after crumbling with nerves, while British hopes in the women’s draw ended when Heather Watson lost in three sets.
Kenin had been a surprise winner in Melbourne a year ago but admitted to struggling with the weight of expectation as she was knocked out 6-3, 6-2 in little over an hour by Kaia Kanepi.
Kanepi, who had reached the final of her warm-up event in Melbourne, played aggressively from the outset while a teary Kenin appeared to struggle.
The No4 seed said: “I obviously felt like I couldn’t find my rhythm. I was obviously way too nervous. I just couldn’t execute my game plan.
“Since last year when I won then I feel like everyone is kind of expecting me to do that. But I just couldn’t close it out. I had chances, I just couldn’t take it. My head wasn’t there. I obviously know why because the nerves big time got to me. I know I couldn’t really handle the pressure.”
Watson, meanwhile, got off to a perfect start in winning a tight opening set against 21st seed Anett Kontaveit but could not maintain the momentum in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 loss.
World No1 and home favourite Ash Barty looked to be cruising to a comfortable win against Daria Gavrilova leading 6-1, 5-1 but lost four games in a row before edging out a tiebreak 9-7 in the all-Australian contest.
Barty, who missed almost an entire year on the WTA Tour after opting not to travel because of the Covid-19 pandemic, said: “I feel like I a little bit just lost my way tactically, more with just having the right intent and going about it the right way. But I’m happy in the end to get through in straight sets and kind of stay alive.”
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, there were wins for No6 seed Karolina Pliskova, 7-5, 6-2 against Danielle Collins, and Belinda Bencic, the No11 seed winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 against Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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