Sofia Kenin, now 120th in the WTA rankings, must qualify this year at Roland-Garros, three years after reaching the Porte d’Auteuil final. The American, ex-world number 4, will be opposed this Monday to the young Frenchwoman Margaux Rouvroy.
Accustomed to the secondary circuit, and in particular to ITF tournaments, Margaux Rouvroy does not really know, at the limit of name for some, the players she can expect to possibly meet this week on the courts of Roland-Garros, where the qualifications began on Monday, which she discovers at the age of 22. The young Frenchwoman, on the other hand, has necessarily heard of the opponent she will have in front of her on the court, this Monday afternoon under the Parisian sun. Rouvroy, who is one of our fifteen representatives (seven for women, eight for men) who will try to win their ticket for the big picture, will indeed be opposed to a former finalist of the tournament.
Sofia Kenin, beaten (dryly) in the final in 2020 during this edition disputed behind closed doors and exceptionally postponed at the end of the year due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, is indeed vegetating today in the depths of the ranking. Ranked 120th this Monday the day after the Rome tournament, which she left in the 3rd round by offering herself to the 2nd world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the American who had won the year of her final in Paris the Open of Australia at the start of the year, notably by causing Cori Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Ashleigh Barty and Garbine Muguruza to fall in the final, therefore has no other choice than to compete in the qualifications to have a chance of participating to the test for the fifth time in his life.
Kenin naturally seeded in these qualifications
Sabalenka is already falling! 😱
Madrid champion loses entry in Rome, beaten by Sofia Kenin, world 134th, 7-6 6-2
AMAZING !
(🎥 @wta) pic.twitter.com/uYDrszb0HT
— We Are Tennis France (@WeAreTennisFR) May 11, 2023
Twice eighth finalist also (in 2019 and 2021) on the clay courts of Porte d’Auteuil, the former world number 4, winner of five titles since her debut (Editor’s note: She is only 24 years old), will naturally be the one of the favorites for these qualifications. She will also be one of the top seeds (n°23). It will therefore take an (incredible) feat for Rouvroy to climb to the 2nd round. And the spectators who think they recognize Kenin without believing it will be a week before the tournament against this player who was still one of the best not so long ago.
