Kenin Gets Lucky Break After 50-Minute Eastbourne Qualifying Loss

Sofia Kenin will play at the Eastbourne International despite getting smoked in the qualifying match in only 50 minutes.

Sofia Kenin is not having a very good year, and outside of a few select performances, that's still going on. She has a 7-15 record so far this year, which is obviously far from what she can do on a tennis court. Last year, the Americanbested Coco Gauff in the opening round, though, and she's far away from that level now.

In fact, her second qualifying match in Eastbourne was a 50-minute thrashing by Viktorija Golubic. It was 6-1, 6-0 for the Swiss player, yet we'll be seeing her in the main draw of the event. This comes after Elena Rybakina withdrew from the event on Monday.

It's a huge lucky break for Kenin because she inherited Rybakina's spot in the draw (number one seed) and her 1st round BYE. That's pretty convenient for Kenin because she needs the point to improve her running.

Being in the Top 50 is pretty nice for Kenin, but she's still forced to play qualifiers at stronger events. That's not really good because her level basically ensures that any match she plays is easy for her, whether she's facing a Top 50 or Top 200 player.

The level is generally not good, but even worse, it's not consistent. Take her Eastbourne qualifiers as she beat a solid player in Daria Saville in the opening round 6-4 6-2 but then got smoked by a player who has had a lacklustre year herself.

Golubic is a solid grass player, but losing in 50 minutes is not a good look. In any case, she's in the second round, and with a win, she'll be in the quarter, so maybe that will give her the boost she needs.