Kaia Kanepi

Slew of upsets 

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She headlines a slew of upsets in the women’s draw, which has also lost eighth seed Bianca Andreescu and ninth seed Petra Kvitova in the first week. “I know I couldn’t really handle the pressure,” said a emotional and red-eyed Kenin, who wiped away tears during her press conference. 

“I mean, obviously I haven’t experienced that. I obviously felt like I’m not there 100 per cent physically, mentally, my game. Everything just feels real off. It’s not good.” Kenin, who had 22 unforced errors, offered little resistance against Kanepi. “I did put pressure on myself there [Roland Garros], but not as much as here,” she said. “I feel like everyone was always asking me, ‘Do you see yourself getting there and winning again?’ The Australia trip, I feel like that was something that I had my eye on. I knew I was going to have pressure. I knew I was going to have emotions, nerves, everything all together. I felt really nervous. I haven’t felt my game for I don’t know how long. It’s obviously tough. The Aussie swing definitely got me.” 

Meanwhile, Ashleigh Barty attributed her patchy performance over compatriot Daria Gavrilova to rust, as the World No. 1 played down fears she was carrying an injury at the Australian Open. 

Barty, 24, cast friendship aside to down her Fed Cup teammate 6-1, 7-6 in one hour and 32 minutes, but Barty seemingly lost focus on the brink of victory in the all-Australian affair. 

Barty rallies to victory

Barty slumped at 2-5 in the second set, dropping serve twice, and needed to save two set points in the tiebreaker before finally advancing to the third round. The 2019 French Open champion was unfazed by the stutter, having only resumed playing at the warm-up Yarra Valley Classic—which she won. “I haven’t played a lot of tennis over the last 12 months,” Barty said. 

“Obviously going to have ebbs and flows not only in concentration but level of play as well. It’s important to be able to bring that back as often as possible. For a couple games, I wasn’t able to do that.”

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