Unregistered Gadecki defeats Kenin in the Phillip Island Cup opener

By 2021, Olivia Gadecki had never been so great against an opponent who was within the top 200. But on Sunday, the 18-year-old drew historic turmoil in the second round of the Phillip Island Cup, shattering No.1 seeds. Sofia Kenin 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in two hours and 28 minutes.

Three days ago, Australian Open winner Kenin Kanepi had lost her crown. Choosing to recover directly in the saddle rather than pull back to fatten his wounds, the American brought a last-minute wild card into the 250 event that also took place. a place on the grounds of Melbourne Park. It was a decision that went back against the power and self-belief of her opponent.

For those who are mindful, Gadecki – an alumna at the Future 2020 Stars Development Camp in Brisbane – had started announcing its potential this year. Having been handed a wild card at the Australian Open in Dubai last month, the Gold Coast native had won a tour over Lara Salden from Belgium before falling to Whitney Osuigwe; on her WTA debut at the Gippsland Cup last week and playing against a top 100 for the first time, Gadecki Bernarda Pera stretched all the way in a 6-7 (2), 6- loss. 3, 6-3.

But those results, or Gadecki’s virgin WTA victory over Destanee Aiava’s wild card in the first round this week, could not be ahead of the scale of his performance against Kenin. An unnamed teenager has not beaten a Top 10 player since 15-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni defeated Amanda Coetzer 6-4, 6-3 in the 1997 Bol semifinals. looking without his inexperience, Gadecki outscored 44 winners to 33 non – critical aces, and downgraded 12 aces in total.

2021 Phillip Island Cup Highlights: Kenin Gadecki unlisted

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Impressively, she kept a cool head in the most experimental score times. Kenin, as brutal as ever, saved five set points before stopping a breakdown in the second set – just for Gadecki to pull ahead there and take sixth place. Serving at 2-3 in the decision, Gadecki escaped with five rest points against him. At 4-4, successive winners won the set’s hard break – and, while catering for the game, came up with an incredible run to save a break point before closing out the win with an ace and punch one-two.

Elsewhere, two deserving new milestones hit with their main WTA draw. Francesca Jones from Britain, who has highlighted her open record in Australia for her success despite being born with ectrodactyly ectrodactyly dysplasia syndrome, continued her good form to seeds No.11 Zheng Saisai put up 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Ankita Raina of India, who lost in the first round of six of her previous major WTA draws, came from a breakdown in the third set to reach the last six games for a 5-7 round. , 6-1, 6-2 win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

Two players who were new to the third Australian Open failed to keep their move going as the first round ended, with Sara Errani falling 6-2, 6-3 to Zhu Lin and Anastasia Potapova gets a 6-4, 4-6, 6 -3 edge with No.16 seed Rebecca Peterson. The Swede are now up against Greet Minnen for the right to play Gadecki in the third round.

However, Ajla Tomljanovic recovered from her own Australian Open loss. Four days ago, Australia exploded a 5-2 lead in the final against Simona Halep, who later said: “If I don’t wake up tomorrow and force myself to keep going and just put it behind me, it could stop for a while. “World No.72 has done just that, getting back into winning streaks with a 6-3, 6-4 win over teammate, player-in-law Lizette Cabrera.

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