Kazakhstan's Zhibek Kulambayeva has stunned Japan's Mei Yamaguchi in the first round of a tournament in India.
Kazakhstan's Zhibek Kulambayeva has stunned Japan's Mei Yamaguchi in the first round of a tournament in India.
Kulambayeva, ranked 473rd in the world, beat the 282nd-ranked Yamaguchi in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, in a match lasting 2 hours and 1 minute.
Why it matters: rankings say this was an upset, and upsets are how players from smaller tennis nations earn their way into bigger draws. For Kazakh tennis, every win like this widens the path behind the country's established stars.
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