British teenager Mika Stojsavljevic beat former grand slam champion Sofia Kenin in Hong Kong for a landmark first main-draw win on the WTA Tour.
The 17-year-old lost in the final round of qualifying for the WTA 250 event but was granted a last-minute reprieve when Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who lost in the Tokyo final on Sunday, withdrew from the main draw.
Stojsavljevic only found out she was playing an hour before her match but despite her limited preparation time ground out a tough 6-3 4-6 6-4 win in two hours and 19 minutes over American Kenin, who won her only major at the Australian Open in 2020.
There were more than 200 places between the highly-rated teen and her opponent.
Stojsavljevic, the 2024 junior US Open champion, was delighted as she celebrated her maiden win on the circuit and said: “I think it was a good match. Obviously I was coming in as a lucky loser, I only knew an hour before that I was going to be playing. I kind of just went out and swung today.
“We didn’t have much time to prepare. Obviously I know she’s a grand slam champion so it was never going to be an easy match but I believed in myself and it worked out.”
411th-ranked Stojsavljevic raced into a set and 3-0 lead before Kenin fought back, but she maintained her composure to come through in three sets and convert her second match point.
She will face Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in the second round.
Later on Wednesday eighth seed and British No 1 Katie Boulter suffered a straight-sets defeat to Claire Liu.
The American triumphed 7-5 6-4 in an hour and 47 minutes to book her place in the third round, where she will play the winner of Stojsavljevic against Sonmez.
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