American Sofia Kenin has knocked top seed Caroline Garcia out of the Hobart International.
The 20-year-old world No.56 recorded a 6-3 6-2 victory, needing only 73-minutes to beat her more experienced opponent.
“I’m really happy with the way I played. Caroline is a really tough player and I knew I had to bring out my best game to beat her,” Kenin said.
“I have a lot of respect for her and I knew it was going to be tough.”
What a win for @SonyaKenin !
Takes out top seed Garcia 6-3, 6-2!@HobartTennis pic.twitter.com/FZbyWTDysc
— WTA (@WTA) January 8, 2019
It was a fearless display from Kenin, who served strongly and did not allow the world No.19 to find any momentum in the night session feature match. She sealed the win with an ace.
“She was a top five player, so I knew I had to play my best to win. I tried to not act like I was nervous, even though I was,” she said.
“I was controlling the points, I was dictating so that was a big part and I was holding serve every time, so that helps.”
Garcia’s loss means the tournament’s top three seeds were all eliminated in the opening round, with Mihaela Buzarnescu and Zhang Shuai also knocked out today.
READ: Bencic bounces Buzarnescu
Fourth seed Maria Sakkari also lost, beaten by Poland’s Magda Linette in the final match of the day. Linette, who earnt her place in the main draw through qualifying, won 3-6 6-2 6-4.