Canadian Bianca Andreescu lost in her first final in two years on the WTA circuit on Sunday, while her compatriot Gabriela Dabrowski won a 16e career doubles title.
Andreescu surrendered to second seed Liudmila Samsonova in the final of the grass-court tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Samsonova won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 after a duel which lasted 2 hours 34 minutes.
“It’s sad, but I know the best is yet to come for me,” Andreescu said.
This is Samsonova’s fifth career singles title. And she first had to complete her semi-final match against Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day.
The two players had won a round when their duel was interrupted by rain on Saturday. Samsonova quickly won the third set on Sunday to win 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-1.
For her part, Andreescu was participating in a first final since the Bad Homburg grass tournament in 2022. She was aiming for a first title since her triumph at the US Open in 2019.
Andreescu, who celebrated her 24e birthday Sunday, started the week at 228e world rank. She was competing in a second tournament after a 10-month absence due to a back injury.
For me, this is definitely a step in the right direction. I have overcome a lot of obstacles, especially in the last 10 months.
Bianca Andreescu
Against Samsonova, she was particularly vulnerable on her second service ball. Andreescu won only 37.5% of the points contested on her second serve. She was the victim of five service breaks during the match.
Samsonova was a little more effective, although Andreescu managed to break her serve four times. She notably won 56.5% of the points contested on her second ball, which helped her since she placed only 54.9% of her first balls in play.
At the Nottingham grass court tournament, Dabrowski and her New Zealand playing partner Erin Routliffe won the women’s doubles title.
They defeated Britain’s Harriet Dart and France’s Diane Parry 5-7, 6-3 and 11-9 in the super tiebreaker.
This is Dabrowski’s third alongside Routliffe. They were the favorites of the tournament.