WTA Rome: Occupying the 134th place in the world and the secret of the victory against Aryna Sabalenka

Sofia Kenin explains how she managed to beat Aryna Sabalenka at WTA Rome: She took advantage of the lack of pressure

A Grand Slam winner at the Australian Open in 2020, Kenin has had seasons far below expectations after her triumph in Melbourne.

Victory with Sabalenka can be a new starting point on the way to an eventual return to the forefront of women’s tennis.

Sofia explained how great players like Aryna can be beaten: with brave tennis and taking full advantage of the outsider status. The pressure of the result is on the opponent (the one who is the big favorite), and this can be a real advantage.

“Obviously I’m very happy, I played very well. She has had excellent results this year, so naturally we didn’t have pressure at the start of the game.

I tried to make the most of this lack of pressure to my advantage, as well as taking advantage of the outsider status. I gave my best to win, and today it worked out for me.

This important win gives me a lot of confidence and I hope I can use it to my advantage in the next match” – Sofia Keninquoted by wtatennis.com.

Summary of the match between Sofia Kenin and Aryna Sabalenka

Sofia Kenin will face Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine – 47 WTA) in the third round of WTA Rome.

WTA Rome takes place between May 9-20 on the clay in the Foro Italico complex. It has total prize money worth $3,572,618 and is part of the “WTA 1000” category. The champion of the last two editions is Iga Swiatek. In Romania, the matches on the women’s table can be watched live on Digisport.

• The Italian competition founded in 1930 was won three times by a Romanian athlete: Ilie Năstase, the 1970 and 1973 editions, and Simona Halep, 2020.

• They have also contested finals: Ilie Năstase (1974, defeated by Bjorn Borg), Virginia Ruzici (1978, 1980, 1981) and Simona Halep (2017, 2018, defeated in both cases by Elina Svitolina).