Grand Slam champion gets thrashed by world number 228 after winning just three games

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Being a Grand Slam champion does not guarantee that players will beat opponents ranked lower than them.

That was certainly something that was seen at the Shanghai Masters, as then world number 204 Valentin Vacherot beat Novak Djokovic en route to his shock title victory.

There was a similar situation at the WTA tournament in Montreal earlier this year, when Victoria Mboko beat Coco Gauff en route to lifting the Canadian Open title.

Now, at another lower-level WTA tournament another Grand Slam champion has fallen to defeat against a player ranked significantly lower than her.

Sofia Kenin suffers heavy defeat to the world number 228 at the Hong Kong Tennis Open

That player is Sofia Kenin, the world number 28 who won the Australian Open singles title in 2020.

Kenin is known for her unpredictable matches, and she actually survived a scare in Tokyo last week when she beat world number 263 Wakana Sonobe, who Naomi Osaka recently praised.

After only just beating the teenager, Kenin then obtained an impressive victory over the in-form Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Kenin then lost to eventual Tokyo Open champion Belinda Bencic, before she headed to Hong Kong for her final tournament of the 2025 season.

Being the fourth seed for the WTA 250 tournament, Kenin was one of the favourites for the title and was expected to win her first round match against world number 228 Himeno Sakatsume, who had come through qualifying.

Sakatsume had not won a main draw WTA Tour match since 2023, but the Japanese player returned to winning ways after thrashing Grand Slam champion Kenin, 6-2 6-1.

When was the last time that Sofia Kenin lost to a player ranked so low?

This is set to be the final match of Kenin’s 2025 season, which has actually been majorly positive.

Kenin began the season as the world number 81, and is now ranked inside the top 30 after some improved results this year.

This includes beating two top 10 players, as well as Kenin reaching the final of the Charleston Open and the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Kenin, who has been aced more than any other player this year, has not enjoyed so many positive results in the second half of the 2025 season.

This final defeat of the year has epitomised that, and it is actually the lowest-ranked defeat Kenin has suffered since losing to then world number 272 Sonay Kartal in Nottingham qualifying in June 2023.