NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tennis Kenya acknowledged it erred in granting an Egyptian player entry to a professional tournament after video of her dismal performance that included 20 double faults circulated on social media.

The 21-year-old player, Hajar Abdelkader, was given a wildcard entry and lost 6-0, 6-0 in 37 minutes in a first-round match that raised questions about her level of play. She struggled with serving and court positioning.

Tennis Kenya, the governing body for the sport in the east African country, is hosting the International Tennis Federation’s W35 tournament this week.

“In hindsight, Tennis Kenya acknowledges that this wildcard should not have been granted. The federation has taken note of this experience and will ensure that such an extremely rare occurrence never happens again," it said in a statement Thursday.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Top-seeded Elina Svitolina again relied on her “fighting spirit” Thursday, beating wild-card entry Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.

Both players struggled on serve in windy conditions on center court. There were nine service breaks in the match, which the No. 13-ranked Svitolina clinched on her third match point.

“Katie is a great fighter so I was expecting a tough match,” Svitolina said. “She can strike the ball very well, as she did today, and it was not an easy match for us with the wind swirling around.”

Svitolina dropped her serve in the third game, immediately broke back but was broken again in the ninth. She won some exceptional clutch points to break Boulter again and take the first set.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Open prize money has increased by 16% on last year to a record total for the tournament starting Jan. 18.

Organizers of the season's first tennis major on Tuesday announced their largest prize pool ever in local currency, with the total for 2026 set at 111.5 million Australian dollars (US$75 million). That was up from 96.5 million Australian dollars in 2025.

The women’s and men’s singles champions will win 4.15 million Australian dollars ($2.8 million), a 19% increase on last year.

Prize money for the qualifying tournament will increase by 16% and organizers say all main draw singles and doubles players will get a minimum 10% increase.