Sofia Kenin will play in the main draw of the 2024 Eastbourne International despite losing in her qualifying match in only 50 minutes.
The American is not having a very good year, and outside of a few select performances, it continued also on the grass courts. She has a 7-15 record so far this year on the WTA Tour, which is obviously far from what she can do on a tennis court.
Last year, Kenin bested Coco Gauff in the opening round of Wimbledon, and she's far away from that level now. In fact, her second qualifying match at the 2024 Eastbourne International was a 50-minute loss to Viktorija Golubic.
The Swiss player won 6-1, 6-0, yet Kenin will play in the main draw of the event and even in the second round. This comes after the top-seeded Elena Rybakina withdrew from the tournament on Monday.
It's a huge lucky break for Kenin because she inherited Rybakina's spot in the draw (number one seed) and her first-round bye as a result. That's convenient for Kenin because she needs the points to improve her ranking.
Being in the Top 50 is a good start for Kenin, but she's still forced to play qualifiers at some tournaments, such as the one in Eastbourne. That's not what she's looking for, because her current level ensures that any match she plays is challenging for her, whether she's facing a Top 50 or Top 200 player.
In the qualifying of the Eastbourne International, she beat a solid player in Daria Saville in the opening round 6-4 6-2 but then lost to Golubic.
Now, her tournament will start against home player Harriet Dart, who won a challenging first-round match against Marie Bouzkova, 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-4. Should she win, the American could play against former US Open finalist, Leylah Fernandez, in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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