In the early morning of May 12, Beijing time, the second round of the WTA1000 Rome station was contested. In a clash between Australian Open champions, tournament No. 2 seed Sabalenka met Kenin. The two sides have met twice before, with Sabalenka winning both matches. Last week's victory in Madrid with Sabalenka failed to go further, losing 2-0 to Kenin and suffering their first opening game of the season.
Sabalenka broke serve in the first set, and Kenning then held serve to take a 2-0 lead. In the 8th game, Sabalenka broke Kenning's serve to tie the game at 4-4. In the 11th game, Sabalenka lost the serve and Kenning missed the serve to win the set in the 12th game. Kenning led all the way in the seven-game tie-breaker, winning the first set 7-4.
Kenning broke serve first in the sixth game of the second set, leading Sabalenka 4-2. In the eighth game, Sabalenka lost again in the unavoidable set, and Kenning broke serve again, winning the second set 6-2 after four consecutive sets.
In a match that lasted 1 hour and 38 minutes, world No. 134 Kenning defeated tournament No. 2 seed Sabalenka 7-6 (4)/6-2. This is Kenning's fourth career victory against a top-2 player in the world, and her second victory against a top-10 player in more than three years. Kenning, who advanced to the next round, will face 30th seed Kalinina for a place in the round of 16.