U.S. Open Champ Pennetta Ousted at Tianjin Open
U.S. Open champion Flavia Pennetta was ousted from the Tianjin Open first round on Tuesday. The 414th-ranked Lyudmyla Kichenok stunned the top-seed 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the second round and put a halt on Pennetta’s WTA Finals hopes.
Pennetta was broken four times and never really got into a rhythm against Kichenok.
“I think it was not easy for her to play against me because she doesn’t know me well or even at all,” said Kichenok. “For me, it also wasn’t easy because I have so much respect for her—she’s the U.S. Open champion and she’s had a great career.”
Pennetta, who is not playing next week, will now need some help to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore.
“I’m not really happy because I didn’t play my best tennis today,” said Pennetta. “But I think she played really well. She didn’t have anything to lose, so she went out there hitting hard and everything was going really well for her. I would love to have played better today. I had my chances but sometimes it’s not coming. There are days like that. It’s tennis.”
Kichenok will China’s Ying-Ying Duan next.
The other two seeds in action on Tuesday both advanced in their opening-round matches. Second-seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland rolled past Olga Savchuk 6-1, 6-0, while third-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic had to come back from a set down to beat Kristina Kucova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
