LONDON: The 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin registered a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over Wang Xinyu of China in the second round of the ongoing Wimbledon 2023 on Thursday.
The former World No.4 from the United States took one hour and 14 minutes to defeat China’s Wang.
Kenin, who is now ranked No.128, had to compete in the qualifying rounds, where she comfortably won all three of her matches in straight sets. Kenin carried that form into the main draw, where she beat No. 7 Coco Gauff in three sets in the opening round.
Kenin won 68 per cent of Wang’s second-service points, resulting in a break-point conversion percentage of 4-for-7.
In the third round, Kenin will face another former Top 5 player on the return route, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Svitolina has a 3-2 advantage in their head-to-head, however, all five of their encounters have occurred in 2019.
In another second-round match, Ana Bogdan of Romania battled past 51st-ranked Alycia Parks of the United States 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach into the next round.
Bogdan is into the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her six main-draw appearances.
Bogdan previously defeated No.15 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the opening round. During this year’s grass-court trip, Bogdan, 30, has a good 7-2 win-loss record.
Bogdan will play Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the third round after Tsurenko halted Bad Homburg winner Katerina Siniakova’s six-match winning run 6-4, 6-1. Tsurenko defeated Bogdan 6-1, 6-0 in their only prior meeting in Istanbul in 2011. (ANI)