Sofia Kenin, a former World No. 4, continues her strong resurgence in tennis by advancing to the semifinals of the Guadalajara Open AKRON. After reaching the final in San Diego the previous week, Kenin has now made back-to-back semifinal appearances for the first time since 2019 when she did so in Toronto and Cincinnati. This impressive comeback comes after she was ranked as low as No. 101 in late August.
Over the past two weeks, Kenin has shown remarkable form, winning 14 of her last 17 matches since the start of Wimbledon qualifying in July. In her recent match against Leylah Fernandez, she overcame 15 aces from her opponent while dealing with 14 double faults of her own, ultimately securing the win after a challenging 2 hours and 47 minutes.
In the closely contested first set, Kenin managed to take the lead. She then faced a 5-2 deficit in the second set but staged a comeback by saving two set points, ultimately pushing the set into a tiebreak. Although she saved two more set points in the tiebreak, she finally lost it due to a double fault.
However, Kenin regained control in the deciding set, showcasing her baseline skills and preventing Fernandez from breaking her serve. The victory improved her head-to-head record against Fernandez to 2-0.
In the semifinals, Kenin will face another unseeded American, Caroline Dolehide, who reached her first Hologic WTA Tour semifinal by saving four match points against Martina Trevisan. Dolehide has won two of their three previous professional meetings, all of which occurred at ITF Challenger events in the United States. They haven’t faced each other since 2017.
“Leylah played great,” Kenin stated on court. “She started off really well in the second, and I almost came back, almost won it. I was kind of frustrated that I lost it, but she’s a fighter, so I knew I needed to cool off and fight in the third.”
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