Canadian Bianca Andreescu extended her successful stay in Miami on Sunday.
The Ontarian reached the round of 16 of this 1000 series tournament by defeating American Sofia Kenin in two identical sets of 6-4.
Don’t be fooled by the latter’s 164th rank, which has already ranked fourth in the world and already has five career singles titles. Kenin had easily defeated the 28th seed, Anhelina Kalinina, in the previous round.
Andreescu was simply imperial en route to her ninth victory since the New Year. She had seven aces and only double-faulted, in addition to winning 64.7% of the rallies she started with a second service.
This is also where things got complicated for Kenin, who posted a rate of return of only 48%.
In her last participation in the Miami tournament, in 2021, Andreescu was forced to give up in the final, against Australian Ashleigh Barty.
“The last time I came here, I didn’t have fun,” commented the 22-year-old athlete after the duel. I didn’t feel like I deserved to make it to the final. But this year, I feel like a whole different person and I feel that I deserve to be in this position.
In the next round, Andreescu will come up against the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (18th) or the Swiss Belinda Bencic (9th). The latter also eliminated Quebecer Leylah Fernandez.