Kenin ready to bounce back after Dubai defeat: ‘I need to be hard on myself’

Current world no 7 Sofia Kenin lost her opening match at the Dubai Championships as she was beaten 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3 by Elena Rybakina after three sets.

The Dubai Championships was Kenin's first WTA Tour event after winning her first career Grand Slam and helping the USA qualify for the Fed Cup finals. And an unhappy Kenin told the press she was upset as things didn't work out for her.

“Yeah, I'm not happy. I'm really upset about this,” Kenin told journalists. “I really thought I could have somehow turned it around.

“I felt like I had the match play, I had the confidence. It just didn't work out today. It's obviously really upsetting and disappointing at the moment.”

The 21-year-old was highly critical of her performance. And she said she needs to be hard on herself so she can perform better in the future.

“I feel like I need to be hard on myself in order to make sure I'm still in check and doing what I want to do and playing how I want to play...

“I think if I wouldn't be hard on myself, I wouldn't have good results.”

Kenin praised her Rybakina for her solid performance and said Russian is playing big.

“She's playing big, serving, playing freely. I just made too many unforced errors. I just didn't take my chances. And I felt really off the whole match. I tried to somehow get back in there, hang in there, but it just didn't work out today.”

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