By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 7, 2020
Newly minted U.S. No.1 Sofia Kenin was in tremendous form against Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia on Friday in her Fed Cup Opener.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Sofia Kenin is still unstoppable.
Riding high on the heels of her first Grand Slam triumph the new American No.1 took to the court bursting with confidence against Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Kenin needed just 68 minutes to engineer a decisive 6-2 6-2 triumph over the former World No.11, which handed the Americans a 1-0 lead over visiting Latvia.
The Current World No.7 improves to 3-0 against Sevastova, and 10-2 on the season.
23-time major champion Serena Williams followed suit with a victory over 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(4) 7-6(3) to improve to 14-0 in Fed Cup singles play in her first singles Fed Cup rubber since 2015.
The U.S. is in great shape heading into Day 2 of its first ever matchup with Latvia. Team USA owns a 24-0 record in ties in which they have led 2-0 after the first two singles rubbers since Fed Cup’s home-away format began in 1995.
Williams had to battle fiercely to get past Ostapenko in their first career meeting. She rallied from 2-0 down to take a tight tiebreaker in the opening set, then appeared to have broken open a tense set with a break for 6-5 in the second set. The enthusiastic crowd chanting “USA! USA!” as Williams stepped to the baseline to serve it out, but the 38-year-old legend cracked under the pressure and yielded an easy break to Ostapenko.
In general it was a rough day on serve for Williams. She connected on five aces, but also tossed in five double-faults and only put 48 percent of her first serves in the box. It wasn't much better off the ground as Williams struck just 6 winners against 19 unforced.
But Williams found a way to win the big points on Friday night. She rallied after falling behind 2-0 in the second set breaker and claimed six of the final seven points to send the packed house at Angel of the Winds Arena home happy.