Former No.4 Sofia Kenin defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1 to advance to the Guadalajara Open AKRON semifinals.
Guadalajara 2023: Points | Order of Play | drew
From her run to the San Diego final last week, the resurgent American has now made back-to-back semifinals for the first time since doing so in Toronto and Cincinnati in 2019. She will face either Martina Trevisan or Caroline Dolehide on Friday for a spot in her first career WTA 1000 final.
Kenin was ranked as low as No.101 in late August. With his results over the past two weeks, he is on the verge of returning to the Top 30. Since starting Wimbledon qualifying in July, Kenin has now won 14 of his last 17 matches.
Kenin overcame 15 aces from the Canadian’s racket and 14 double faults of his own, to claim victory after 2 hours and 47 minutes. After winning the first set, Kenin trailed Fernandez, 5-2, in the second set.
Kenin did well to bounce back, saving two set points to push the set into a tiebreak. He saved two more set points there before finally succumbing, hitting a double fault to serve out the 81-minute set.
“Leylah played well,” Kenin said on the court. “He started really hard in the second, and I almost came back, almost won it. I was disappointed that I lost it, but he’s a fighter, so I knew I had to cool down and fight in the third.”
Kenin immediately rebounded. He rediscovered his baseline range and controlled the match in the deciding set. After saving a break point in his opening service game, the American broke Fernandez and never found a break point on his own serve.
The victory increased Kenin’s head-to-head record against Fernandez to 2-0.