Australian Open: Sofia Kenin, the Reigning Champ, Is Knocked Out

MELBOURNE, Australia — Sofia Kenin, the reigning champion, was knocked out of the Australian Open on Thursday in a decisive 3-6, 2-6 loss to the unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

Kenin’s second-round defeat was the first major upset of the 2021 Australian Open. She was the No. 4 seed in the tournament and was the WTA Player of the Year in 2020, when she won the Australian Open in February and made the French Open final in October.

Kenin has struggled to find her form this year though. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi Open in January, dropping the third set, 6-0, to Maria Sakkari of Greece, then was eliminated in the tuneup event to this tournament by Jessica Pegula of the United…