When you come from Estonia you are not going to be one of the major subplots in an American tournament. That's especially the case when you aren't a player with a career-high ranking in the top five. However Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, as the World No. 418, has made a winning return to Grand Slam tennis at the age of 32. She is back into a big match on the women's tour after making the fourth round of the 2017 Us Open on Saturday.
Kanepi fought to keep tournament alive
Kanepi beat Naomi Osaka in the third round at Flushing Meadows on Saturday. The win involved having to come back from a break down in the deciding third set.
Furthermore, Kanepi had to play and win some tense points after the third set went to 5-5. However, in the end, the Estonian prevailed, winning the match against a much younger opponent 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. What awaits her is a match against Jennifer Brady, an American player that seems to be emerging as a future star on tour.
There are no easy matches at this point in a Grand Slam, but Kanepi is certainly more of a proven player for the big-match victories. Four times she has advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam and she'll be looking to make that five when she faces Brady. Partisan American fans in New York will no doubt rather see Brady advance to the quarters than watch the story of Kanepi making a comeback.
What has Kanepi gone through? Despite all of her success from years gone by Kanepi's appearance at the US Open is her first in the main draw of a major in two years. Furthermore, her fourth-round appearance is the first for her in three years. She hasn't been to the US Open quarters in seven years and for a time looked questionable to ever get close again.
Injuries a big part of recent history
In 2015 she suffered a back injury. She has also had trouble with her Achilles in her career. The names can come and go on tour so quickly that it was actually easy to forget Kanepi's. The WTA's David Kane reintroduced the former World No. 15 a few days ago in an article titled "Catching up with Kaia Kanepi." The timing was perfect and the article was necessary.
When Kanepi announced her comeback back in June, most would have been expecting more of a retirement announcement than a plan to try and be relevant again on tour.
But win or lose against Brady, there's certainly some momentum for Kanepi to build off of. When you are ranked 418th in the world, making the fourth round of a Grand Slam injects some adrenaline into your ranking quick. Kanepi, if she advances no further at the 2017 US Open, should leap over some 275 players with next week's update. If she makes the quarters then she projects to gain over 300 spots. It's hard to think about her doing better than that, but then nothing is off the table at this US Open. She certainly would not be out of place in the late rounds given her talent.
