Kenin reaches first clay-court quarterfinal of career at Roland Garros

Sofia Kenin battled back from a set down to beat France's Fiona Ferro on Monday, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, to not only reach her first career quarterfinal at Roland Garros, but her first tour-level quarterfinal on clay.

Kenin started the match strong, jumping out to a 2-0 lead with two points for 3-0. Ferro won the next six games in a row to take the first set, but after the two traded breaks at the start of the second set it was all Kenin, who won 11 of the last 13 games from 6-2, 1-1 down to cruise to victory.

The American completely turned her numbers around after the first set, too. She hit 10 winners to 16 unforced errors in the opening set, but a combined 29 to 13 across the next two sets.

"She was playing really well," Kenin said of Ferro after the match. "I had to change my game after the first set and be a little more aggressive, and I feel like I played really well those last two sets.

"I'm just proud of myself. I'm happy I was able to find a way to win."

And on finally breaking through to her first quarterfinal on clay?

"I'm, like, super happy that I'm in the quarters—I usually don't play well on clay, and in the past, in the juniors, I really hated the clay. Last year I started to like it for the first time," Kenin said.

"It's a lot of sliding, it's very physical. I just tried to adjust my game to it. I feel like as each match went, I'm more and more comfortable. I'm just super proud to be in the quarterfinals, because this used to be a surface that I really don't like. Now it's obviously a surface that I really enjoy playing on."

Ferro had been 8-0 since the restart, going 5-0 to win Palermo in August and then three wins in Paris.

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Kenin's now 14-1 at majors in 2020, going 7-0 to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, 3-1 at the US Open—falling to Elise Mertens in the fourth round—and 4-0 so far at Roland Garros.

As of now, Kenin doesn't know who she's playing next—the fourth-round match between Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins was postponed until Tuesday due to weather. But she knows both players well.

"Jabeur I've played quite a bit—I've beaten her all the time, except one time," the American said. "I played her the last time at the US Open. It was a really tough match. She's obviously playing some great tennis. She's a really tough player to play. She's got a lot of variety. She's very tricky.

"Against Danielle, I played her in Adelaide. She played a good match. I didn't feel like I could get my rhythm. Yeah, I lost. But we'll see how it's going to go. She's obviously playing well. She's aggressive.

"Yeah, I'll just see what's going to happen tomorrow."