MELBOURNE (AFP) – Sofia Kenin’s emotional Australian Open defense ended in a second-round defeat to Kaia Kanepi Thursday but top seed Ashleigh Barty overcame a blip to reach the last 16.
The highly-strung Kenin has struggled to handle expectations in her maiden Grand Slam title defense and admitted to having a few tears during a tense opening-round win on Tuesday.
The fourth seed shed more on Margaret Court Arena Thursday after her 6-3, 6-2 defeat in 64 minutes to the Estonian world number 65, becoming the highest-ranked player to go out of the tournament.
”I felt like I wasn’t there, my head wasn’t there,” a teary-eyed Kenin admitted later.
Meanwhile world number one Barty cast friendship aside with a straight-sets victory over compatriot Daria Gavrilova, but appeared to lose focus serving for the match before closing out for a 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) win against her Fed Cup teammate.
Barty’s left thigh was heavily strapped but she seemed to move with ease in the second-round encounter against 387th-ranked Gavrilova.
”This isn’t very subtle,” Barty said referring to the bandage. ”I’m as fit as a fiddle.
”When you play another Aussie, rankings go out of the window, so it was always going to be a tricky match.”
Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic had few alarms in beating American Danielle Collins, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park two years ago, 7-5, 6-2.
Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic was pushed harder by veteran Russian Svetlana Kutznetsova before coming through 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in 2hr 39min.
In the men’s draw, Russian rising star Andrey Rublev, the seventh seed, reached the last 16 with a straight-set victory over Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).
Later Thursday, Rafael Nadal will test his sore back again as he chases a record 21st Grand Slam crown.
The ailing Spanish second seed had to modify his service action during a straight-sets cruise past Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the first round.
