Jennifer Brady, a former Australian Open semifinalist, celebrates a straight-set victory to make her WTA Tour comeback after a two-year break.
Brady, who was back in play in Washington, easily defeated Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, who was ranked 28th, 6-2, 6-1. She defeated Kalinina in only 1 hour and 8 minutes, breaking her opponent’s service six times and winning 10 of the last 11 games.
Seventh-seeded Madison Keys, who is also her doubles partner, will be her next opponent.
On August 18, 2021, Brady retired from the Western & Southern Open’s second-round match against Jelena Ostapenko due to a foot injury that was later determined to be a ruptured plantar fascia. The 28-year-old American was forced to withdraw from competing, dropping from world number 16 to 1,056th as she recovered.
Brady, who made it to the US Open semifinals in 2020 and the Australian Open championship match in 2021, lost to Naomi Osaka both times.
In order to be ready for her return to the WTA Tour, she participated in a $100,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournament two weeks ago in Canada.
