BASTAD, Sweden — Kaia Kanepi has been unable to back up her form from the previous two weeks which saw her reach the quarterfinals in Wimbledon.
Her efforts at Wimbledon and at the AEGON International in Birmingham two weeks prior saw her leapfrog to 38 in the world, a ranking she failed to live up to here in Bastad as her Spanish opponent Arantxa Parra Santonja dealt to her 6-4, 7-5 for a straight sets victory.
Although Parra Santonja is ranked 5 for the tournament, it is a game that Kanepi should have been able to claim, previously holding a 2-0 record over the Spaniard. Kanepi should have also theoretically been ranked but missed out, given her new world ranking came out after the seeds had been named.
If her new world ranking had been taken into account, which is 14 places higher than Parra Santjona, Kanepi would have almost certainly been ranked 4th, which would also ave assured her of an easier first round encounter.
Wayward serving was ultimately the undoing of Kanepi serving six faults in an unflattering time at the service line, getting in just 52 percent of her first serves.
This article is free to view. To read Baltic Reports’ subscription-only articles, click here.