Sofia Kenin 2025 Season Recap

Kenin’s best moment of 2025 occurred at the Charleston Open

Before the Charleston Open, Kenin registered two victories at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open, including one over the now-retired Petra Kvitova. However, she entered the tournament held on green clay in South Carolina after the indignity of a 0-6 0-6 demolition by Gauff in Miami. That, combined with Kenin’s going over five years without a WTA title, meant she was not among the Charleston Open favorites.

The Grand Slam champion’s level at the event could not have contrasted more sharply with her match against Gauff. Kenin did not drop a set on her way to the final. She defeated Bernarda Pera, Belinda Bencic, Daria Kasatkina, and Anna Kalinskaya before Amanda Anisimova retired in the opening set of their semifinal. Despite holding a 5-1 second-set lead against Jessica Pegula in the final, she succumbed to a 3-6 5-7 loss. That was her fourth consecutive final defeat, a run stretching back to the 2020 French Open final.

Mixed results occurred after that impressive run

Any hopes that Kenin would get even better after that run in Charleston did not materialize. Her most notable achievement from then until the end of the US Open was reaching the third round of the French Open, with wins over Varvara Gracheva and Victoria Azarenka. Kenin came agonizingly close to the fourth round at Roland-Garros. She impressed for lengthy stages against this year’s Australian Open champion Madison Keys, but exited 6-4 3-6 5-7 after holding three match points.

Second round and opening round defeats at Wimbledon and the US Open were her other Grand Slam results during that period. She also lost in the round of 64 at the National Bank Open against home favorite Victoria Mboko. That was notable, as the 19-year-old Mboko went on to stun by securing the title in Montreal.

Kenin found one more good run during the Asian swing

Rather than ending her season early, as many players did in 2025, Kenin played six Asian tournaments. She managed three victories and four losses in Korea, Beijing, Wuhan, and Ningbo before her persistence was rewarded in Tokyo. The American beat home favorites Moyuka Uchijima and Sonobe Wakana, and then the No. 3 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. Bencic beat her 7-6 3-6 6-2 in an entertaining semifinal. Kenin’s season was completed with a surprisingly heavy 2-6, 1-6 hammering by Himeno Sakatsume at the Hong Kong Open.

The former Australian Open champion ended with a 21-21 win/loss record, a considerable improvement on 13-21 in 2024. It was good enough for her to finish the season ranked No. 28, 58 places higher than at the end of 2024. Kenin has a chance to build on that momentum at the start of 2026.