MADRID – Sunday in two stages for the Canadian Bianca Andreescu at the Madrid Open tennis tournament. The day began with a sparkling victory for Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu but continued with the elimination of Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez.
Bianca Andreescu pulverized American Danielle Collins, the world’s eighth-ranked player, 6-1, 6-1 in a second-round match in the morning.
Several hours later, in a duel of left-handed players, Fernandez, 17th seed, dropped the flag in two sets of 6-4, 6-4 against the Swiss Jil Teichmann in a clash that lasted 90 minutes.
It took Andreescu just 69 minutes to reach the third round, where she will face Jessica Pegula, also of the United States, on Tuesday. Pegula, ranked 14th in the world, eliminated Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday.
“I knew I had to deliver an outstanding performance because (Collins) has been successful lately. I didn’t expect it to happen like this at all. But I stuck to my game plan, and it worked,” Andreescu said in comments posted on the WTA website.
Andreescu took the lead in the first set by winning the next game on Collins’ serve after saving a breaking ball in the second game. The Canadian hit him again in the fifth and seventh games of the initial set.
Andreescu’s supremacy continued with two more breaks to a 4-0 lead in the second set. That’s where the Canadian experienced her only failure of the day when Collins made a break.
Bianca Andreescu immediately responded with his sixth break of the clash before ending the duel on his serve on his third ball of the match.
“What I did well today was to stay in the moment, and I told myself that the game wasn’t over until it was, even at 6-1, 4-1. She started hitting the ball with more force, and sometimes she would fall into the game, sometimes she wouldn’t.
What she tried to do was smart because it put more pressure on me. She could have come back into the game if I hadn’t held on,” Andreescu said.
After losing the second set to Alison Riske in the first round, Andreescu, ranked 111th globally, has won 18 of the next 20 games.
This victory will ensure Andreescu to climb into the top-100.
“I’m trying to go up the coast, and the other day we thought it would be good if it didn’t take too many games to get there.
I was happy to return to this area, and I found all the tics that helped me in my past matches. It helps. Simple gestures like touching the line or hitting your sneakers with the racket can make a big difference.
Fernandez conceded a break of service in the third game of the first set, and Teichmann was able to win the first set in 43 minutes.
The two players exchanged breaks in the first two games of the second set. Subsequently, they managed to protect their serve until Fernandez faltered in the ninth game when she sent a backhand into the net.
The Swiss followed up by winning all four points on her serve in the next game, the last following a backhand too long by the Quebecer.
Naomi Osaka quickly eliminated
Still uncomfortable on clay, Naomi Osaka was stopped in the second round by Spain’s Sara Sorribes (47th) 6-3, 6-1, three weeks before Roland Garros.
Sorribes, by defending tooth and nail and rounding the trajectories, undermined the striking force of the Japanese, who appeared in addition to the strapped left calf, and pushed her to the fault multiple times until winning in less than an hour a half.
On the contrary, the Spaniard committed only three direct fouls throughout the game.
Osaka opened its season on ochre in the Spanish capital after preparing a few days on the Mallorcan soil of Rafael Nadal.
The former world No. 1, now 36th, a four-time Grand Slam winner, has never made it past the third round at Roland Garros.
End of course also for the Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza, physically diminished and beaten 6-3 6-0 by the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (37th), next opponent of the British Emma Raducanu, the surprise winner of the US Open last year.
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