Sofia Kenin defeats Samsonova in R1 of Doha

Sofia Kenin finally got a great win as the American took advantage of a tired Liudmila Samsonova beating her 6-3 6-1 in the first round of the Qatar Open.

Samsonova had a tremendous week in Abu Dhabi last week reaching the final and losing to Belinda Bencic. It was a long week and it impacted her performance today. Pretty early on you could see that the Russian was not as sharp as usual falling behind early. She would manage to find a groove a bit later coming back from 0-3 to make it 3-3 but that was the last good thing she did.

Kenin then took over in the first set finishing it up 6-3 and she never looked back after that. The second set continued showing an impressive level from her as Samsonova looked worse and worse. Towards the end, the Russian looked completely drained as she was late in the rallies and missed badly at times.

A very good win for Kenin as she looks to rebuild her career after a long battle with injuries. She hit a superb level a couple of years ago and that talent doesn't evaporate overnight.