Confident Kenin keen to take the fight to Muguruza in Oz Open final

Sofia Kenin will be making her debut in a Grand Slam final when she faces Garbine Muguruza for the Australian open title on Saturday but what she lacks in experience the American more than makes up for in courage and confidence.

Muguruza has been in three previous Grand Slam finals, winning two of them at Roland Garros (2016) and Wimbledon (2017), while the 21-year-old American had been beyond the third round only once — beating Serena Williams at last year’s French Open before losing to Ash Barty in the next round.

But Kenin has shown at Melbourne Park she has the game to beat the biggest names, building on a stellar 2019 when she won all three of her singles titles to reach a career-high world ranking of 12.

“No matter who I’m playing, where I’m playing, I’m going to fight for it. It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Of course, I have a lot of respect for my opponents when I’m playing.

“When I’m going on court, I’m there to win, I’m there to do my job. I’m doing my best.”

Barty learned the hard way about Kenin’s fighting spirit in their semi-final.

The world number one was on the front foot for most of their match but Kenin dug her heels in and fought back to defeat the Australian in front of her home fans.

Spaniard Muguruza lost her only prior meeting with Moscow-born Kenin, in Beijing last year, and knows the American will be no pushover.

“I think she’s playing great. I think since a while she’s just progressing up in the rankings and in the results,” said Muguruza. “So I think she deserves to be in the final with the tennis she has been showing.”

More significantly, Muguruza reunited with fellow former Wimbledon champion and compatriot Conchita Martinez as her coach.

Martinez was on Muguruza’s team in 2017 when she won Wimbledon. The 47-year-old memorably said in Melbourne that they were the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston of tennis -- meaning they were destined to be together again.

The results were immediate. In her first tournament of the year Muguruza reached the semi-finals in Shenzhen. She then made the quarter-finals in Hobart, but pulled out with a viral illness.

She was still suffering the effects when she folded 0-6 in the first set to American qualifier Shelby Rogers in the first round in Melbourne.

Only just well enough to play, she says, Muguruza recovered to win the next two sets 6-1, 6-0, and her Australian Open had begun. She beat three top-10 seeds on the way to the final.

Martinez said Friday there was no magic bullet -- they focused on Muguruza’s fitness at the beginning and worked on “a lot of aspects of her tennis”.

While 14th seed Kenin has been the form player coming into Melbourne, Muguruza was unseeded as a result of a largely dismal 2019 season.

The Spaniard, who reached the top of the WTA rankings in 2017, also suffered from a viral illness before the start of the Australian Open and had to withdraw from the quarter-finals of the Hobart warmup.

But she recovered to take her place at Melbourne Park and has gone from strength to strength, downing world number three Simona Halep in a scorching semi-final. Kenin said she would be out to land the first blow.

“Of course, I want to do the first punches. I don’t want to be in defence against her. She can really put the ball away. She’s really aggressive,” said the American.

“So I feel like it’s going to be who’s controlling the points more, who is dictating. Hopefully I can use what I did in Beijing to help me.”

Agencies