Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, FL is the 2020 Australian Open champion. On Saturday from Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, Kenin, the 14th seed, defeated Garbine Muguruza of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours and three minutes.
A major reason for the Kenin win came down to double faults. Kenin had zero and Muguruza had eight, including many in key situations.
Kenin also had significantly fewer unforced errors than Muguruza. Kenin had 23 unforced errors, while Muguruza had 45.
At 21 years of age, Kenin is the youngest American woman to win a grand slam singles title since the 20 year-old Serena Williams of Saginaw, MI won the 2002 United States Open. Eighteen years ago Serena Williams beat her older sister Venus Williams of Lynwood, CA 6-4, 6-3 in the final at Flushing Meadows, NY. At the time the 2002 U.S. Open was Serena Williams’s fourth grand slam title as she previously won the 1999 U.S. Open, 2002 French Open and 2002 Wimbledon.
Kenin is also only the second woman in the Open Era to be making her grand slam women’s singles final debut, lose the first set and go on to win the match. The first was Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who won the 2017 French Open, when she upset Simona Halep of Romania, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Kenin was one of two Americans to win at the 2020 Australian Open. The other was Rajeev Ram of Denver, CO. Ram teamed up with Joe Salisbury of Great Britain to win the men’s doubles title. Ram and Salisbury beat Max Purcell and Luke Saville 6-4, 6-2 in the men’s doubles final. For Ram it was his first grand slam doubles championship. He previously won the 2019 Australian Open mixed doubles final with Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.
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