Targeting a top 20 breakthrough in 2019, American Sofia Kenin has made a promising start to the season.
The 20-year-old is into the Hobart International quarterfinals, sealing her place with a hard-fought 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
.@SonyaKenin books her place in the @HobartTennis quarterfinal!
Gets the win over Jabeur 7-6(6), 6-3! pic.twitter.com/BC0d6ydVQW
— WTA (@WTA) January 9, 2019
The No.56-ranked American showed her fighting qualities, saving set points in the opening set.
“I was just fighting and not giving up,” she said.
“To save two set points, that really changed the momentum of the match.”
Jabeur recovered to establish a 3-1 lead in the second set, only for Kenin to reel off five consecutive games to seal victory.
“I’m happy that I adjusted well and tried to find my way back to win,” Kenin said.
Kenin, who eliminated top seed Caroline Garcia in the opening round, now meets Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the quarterfinals.
READ: Flipkens fights back to beat Kuzmova
Flipkens, the tournament’s seventh seed, is one of only two seeds remaining in the draw.
“I don’t look at what happens, I just try to focus on myself,” Kenin said of the wide-open draw.
“I don’t even know who I’m playing tomorrow.”
Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu staged an impressive comeback to win her second-round match against Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova.
The 20-year-old Blinkova served for victory in the second set but Begu broke back, taking the second set in a tiebreak. Her 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 win sets up a quarterfinal meeting with Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
It is Begu’s best singles result in Hobart, having never passed the second round in her three previous visits.