Ready for anything, Sofia Kenin finds rhythm in Rome with Ons Jabeur upset

ROME, Italy—The process may be boring, but Sofia Kenin isn’t: the American put on a show for the Campo Centrale crowd to score a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 upset over Ons Jabeur, improving to 6-2 against the No. 8 seed and posting back-to-back match wins for the first time since September.

“I definitely feel like I’ve come a long way,” Kenin said after plopping into a chair left in the mixed zone, tired after over two hours on court with Jabeur. “I’m not too happy with how this season was going, but I’m happy it’s going in the right direction.

“I feel like the hard work is paying off and the fact that I’m still fighting, training every day, working hard on my fitness, I was feeling like it was all going to come together at some point.”

The 2020 Australian Open champion played her best tennis through the pandemic-affected season, carrying her pre-COVID momentum into a second major final of the season at Roland Garros, losing to a young Iga Swiatek.

“With the intensity that she brings out on court, the fact that she’s so consistent. I think Iga is doing a tremendous job and I really admire her,” lauds Kenin. “If I had that kind of consistency it would be amazing.”

But since failing to defend her Australian Open title the following January, the former world No. 4 has largely been a shadow of her former self—save a handful of brilliant flashes.

This time last year, she broke the Rome draw wide open with a win over Mutua Madrid Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, confirming the Foro Italico as her preferred WTA 1000 venue.

“I love the surface, the courts here. They’re slow, which suit my conditions. There’s no altitude, which I love, so that definitely helps me,” Kenin said, throwing light shade at Madrid’s Caja Magica. “I’m not a fan of altitude. I just feel like I’m very comfortable here.”

For a player with metronomic groundstrokes, comfort is essential and has yet remained largely elusive in spite of another statement win at Wimbledon. Indeed, it was Kenin who sent Coco Gauff back to the drawing board with a first-round upset that is perhaps indirectly responsible for her US Open comeback. While that result provided a momentary lift, including a final in San Diego and a semifinal at another WTA 1000 in Guadalajara, the 25-year-old regressed in a big way, losing 14 of her next 16 matches.

A nine-match losing streak ended with the decision to enter a WTA 125K tournament—the lowest tier available on the Hologic WTA tour—during the second week of Madrid, where she’d exited in the first round to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

“Even though I didn’t get as many matches as I wanted, it still got me in the groove,” she said of her two three-setters in Lleida. “I jumped the hump, got a win, and I’m playing well. So, everything is coming together.”

A fiery Kenin surfaced in Rome, battling the elements and everyone around her through a rainy first-round against local favorite Lucia Bronzetti to book an eighth career meeting with Jabeur, a player whose variety should give her fits but instead brings her focus.

“I’m prepared for anything: all of her trick shots and everything because you never know!” she joked. “I just knew she was going to come up with anything so you always have to be ready. It’s not going to be much rhythm with her and if you can get into a rhythm, that’s makes the point more neutral instead of her drop-shotting all the time!”

In between laughs are signs of the stubborn character that was a hallmark of her ascent.

“I’m doing everything in my power, and I’m doing everything right,” she insists of her coaching team that again includes father Alex, whom went without for a six-month stretch in 2021.

But just as quickly, a picture of the youngster who once took a tour of the Miami Open with Kim Clijsters emerges, one who has fond memories of Roman shopping sprees and mixing chocolate and caramel gelato.

“It has been a good shopping destination in years past,” laughed Kenin, who raved about Thursday night’s cacio e pepe. “I don’t know how much shopping I will do because carrying everything isn’t the easiest and I’ve got a lot of the same stores in Miami. But I’ll try the shops and if I do well, maybe I’ll get myself a little clutch. We’ll see.”

Kenin will need to be more than a little clutch if she hopes to make the most of what could be a revitalizing run. In a section with No. 9 seed and 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, she will next face either No. 26 seed Katie Boulter or qualifier Rebecca Sramkova.

Should she remain open to all possibilities, this could be the week where the process pays off.