Reigning champ Kenin crashes out of Australian Open

Defending champion Sofia Kenin exited the Australian Open in tears on Thursday as world number one Ashleigh Barty negotiated a sticky moment to reach the third round.

Coco Gauff, 16, lost to Elina Svitolina; Stefanos Tsitsipas went the distance with Thanasi Kokkinakis; and Fabio Fognini also needed five sets against fellow Italian Salvatore Caruso, a match that ended in a furious row.

Kenin and Barty topped the day-time bill on Thursday, but their matches had very different outcomes.

Self-imposed pressure has weighed heavily on Kenin, 22, the world number four who was defending a Grand Slam title for the first time.

And after an emotional first-up win over wild card Maddison Inglis, Kenin met her match in the in-form Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who won 6-3, 6-2.

“I know I couldn’t really handle the pressure,” said an emotional and red-eyed Kenin, who wiped away tears during her press conference.

While the American became just the third defending champion since 1970 to fail to reach the third round, Barty lifted hopes of a first Australian winner since 1978.

Playing with her left thigh heavily strapped, the top seed twice failed to serve out the win before ousting her 387th-ranked compatriot Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 7-6 (9/7).

Barty, who is unbeaten in seven matches after sitting out nearly all of last year, blamed the lapse on ring-rust.

“I haven’t played a lot of tennis over the last 12 months. Obviously going to have ebbs and flows not only in concentration but level of play as well,” said the Aussie, dismissing any injury concerns. “I’m as fit as a fiddle,” she said.

Gauff beat Venus Williams and the then-champion Naomi Osaka en route to the round of 16 last year, when she was just 15, but Svitolina had other ideas this time around.

The Ukrainian world number five lifted her game in the pivotal moments to win 6-4, 6-3 as she eyes a maiden Grand Slam title.

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova ousted 2019 semi-finalist Danielle Collins, and Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic overcame veteran Russian Svetlana Kutznetsova 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

In the men’s draw, world number 192 Mackenzie McDonald beat Borna Coric 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to hand the Croatian 22nd seed the biggest upset of his career.

McDonald, 25, became the lowest-ranked tour-level winner against Coric, a US Open quarter-finalist last year, and reaches the third round of a Grand Slam for only the second time.

Tsitsipas was not expected to be troubled by 267th-ranked Kokkinakis but the Aussie, roared on by his close friend Nick Kyrgios, saved a fourth-set match point before going down to the Greek 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, 39, was also taken five sets in his record-extending 75th consecutive Grand Slam before beating Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

But the most combustible match was between Fognini and Caruso, as the two Italians had to be separated by a tournament official during a heated argument after the 16th seed’s four-hour, 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (14/12) win.

Rather than the traditional polite congratulations, the pair argued furiously in Italian for several minutes, gesturing and wagging their fingers.

Translations of the spat suggested firebrand Fognini told Caruso – in colourful language – that he had been lucky with some close calls, which Caruso took exception to.

Eventually the court supervisor had to step between the pair and tell them to cool off, with Caruso walking away and bowing to the crowd as he exited.

Fognini, who battled back from 1-5 down in the deciding tiebreak, didn’t want to talk about the incident afterwards.

“We are good friends,” he said, adding that what was said on court “stays on court”.

Russian rising star Andrey Rublev maintained his unbeaten start to the year with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) victory over Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro. (AFP)
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Last updated: 2021-02-11 HKT 21:06