Sofia Kenin lifts Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup

Melbourne: American 14th seed Sofia Kenin on Saturday beat two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in the final of the 2020 Australian Open to win her maiden title, which is known as Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. In a match that lasted two hours and three minutes, Kenin came from a game down to beat Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

This was Kenin's first Grand Slam final and with this she will rise to a career high ranking of No.7. She is the youngest to win the title since Maria Sharapova in 2008.

The new WTA ranking makes her the highest ranked American and also the youngest from her country to enter the top 10 since Serena Williams. She is also the only singles player from her country apart from Serena to have won the Australian Open since 2002.

The third set was much closer than what the score suggests. Both players held their serves and Muguruza raced to a 40-0 lead at 2-2 on Kenin's serve. However the 21-year-old fought back and managed to hold. She took the momentum to the next game where she broke Muguruza and increased her lead to 4-2.

Another hold took her to 5-2 and thus a break away from the championship. Muguruza was leading 40-15 but Kenin managed to fight back to deuce. A double fault from Muguruza in the end won Kenin the title.

Muguruza had a tough draw, beating Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Simona Halep on her way to the final. The match against Halep was a hard fought two-set win and the run seemed to have taken a toll on her as she had needed to be checked by the physio during the final on Saturday.

Kenin had earlier beaten World no.1 and home favourite Ashleigh Barty in two sets. She beat teen sensation Coco Gauff in the fourth round and Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur in the quarters before that. IANS

The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup

The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup has been awarded to the winner of the women's singles at the Australian Open since 1934. Akhurst (22 April 1903 – 9 January 1933) was an Australian tennis player. She won the women's singles title at the Australian Championships five times between 1925 and 1930. She was ranked World No. 3 in 1928. Today she ranks third on the Australian all-time singles champion list behind Margaret Court and Nancye Wynne Bolton.

She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

Sofia Kenin : CAREER TO DATE

* She began her professional career on the ITF circuit in 2013 and won her first two professional matches at the age of 14.

* Made her first Grand Slam main draw appearance at the 2015 US Open, losing her opening match to Mariana Duque-Marino.

* Had a breakthrough season in 2018, reaching her first WTA semi-final at the Mallorca Open on grass.

* Her performances further improved in 2019 and she won her first WTA singles title at the Hobart International, where she did not drop a single set during the event.

* Her best result on clay came at the French Open, where she advanced to the fourth round.

* She won her second WTA singles title of the year in Mallorca, before adding more silverware in Guangzhou.

* She was picked as the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year 2019, the first American to win the award since Serena Williams in 1999.

* Kenin on Saturday became the youngest women's Australian Open winner since Maria Sharapova, who won in 2008 at the age of 20.

Winning Feeling...

"I want to congratulate Garbine on a great match, tournament. If you have a dream, go for it. Dreams do come true. These past two weeks have been the best of my life. Thanks to the crowd and I love you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to my team. To my dad, my agent for putting up with me. We've worked hard for this. I love you to my mom who is watching at home. Thank you to everyone."

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