(Stuttgart) After a long absence from the courts, Canadian Bianca Andreescu scored a victory on Tuesday at the Stuttgart tennis tournament.
Posted at 5:23 p.m.
Updated at 7:36 p.m.
The 21-year-old Ontarian overcame nerve-wracking moments in the opening set before defeating Germany’s Jule Niemeyer 7-6(5), 6-3 in a first-round duel.
Andreescu was down 3-5 in the first set and faced a set point in the ninth game before coming from behind and winning that set. She collected a break of service in the third game of the following set, en route to this victory.
During the match, Andreescu faced six break points and saved five. She converted three of her four break chances.
“I feel like it took me a bit of time to find my rhythm, but she offered really good tennis,” Andreescu told WTA Insider, in an interview that was published on the site. WTA official.
“I’m super happy with the way I handled everything, especially towards the end of the game. I felt like I had a good frame of mind, but it sure was very emotional. It wasn’t easy to get out of that mindset, but I’m glad I did. I had a few tears in my eyes when I changed sides, because I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m playing again and I feel good. »
Now 121and in the world due to an absence that spanned several months, Andreescu received a free pass from the organizers to participate in the tournament.
In the second round, she will cross swords with the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, third seed. This duel should take place on Thursday and will be the first between these two powerful punchers on the WTA circuit.
“I’m happy to finally be able to face him on the circuit at this level,” said Andreescu.
“She hits hard, she loves her serve, she loves her forehand and she’s a great brawler. I’m going to have to pull out my best tennis because I know she’s going to pull out hers. »
Tuesday’s game was the first in 2022 for Andreescu. His last outing dated back to October 21, against Anett Kontaveit at the Indian Wells tournament.
In December, Andreescu announced that she was stepping away from tennis in a bid to recover physically and mentally from two “difficult” years.
On Twitter, Andreescu wrote that she had been affected by “several weeks in quarantine” after contracting COVID-19, and by the fact that her grandmother had to stay in the intensive care unit for several weeks. a hospital because of the coronavirus.
“A lot of days I didn’t feel like myself, especially when I was training and/or playing games. I felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders,” she mentioned.
“I couldn’t detach myself from everything that was happening off the pitch; I felt the collective sadness and restlessness around me and it affected me. »
Andreescu was 19 when she capped a spectacular breakthrough on the international tennis scene by upsetting her idol, American Serena Williams, in the 2019 US Open women’s singles final. A few weeks earlier, Andreescu had won the Rogers Cup final in Toronto when Williams retired early in the first set.
Those victories helped propel Andreescu to a personal career-high fourth in the WTA rankings.
Gauff eliminated
In another match, American Coco Gauff suffered a straight-set elimination 6-4, 6-2 against Daria Kasatkina.
Gauff, who is only 18, seemed in control after winning the first four games of the duel. Kasatkina, however, recovered to finally win in 79 minutes.
Kasatkina will face seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur, who needed three sets to defeat Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Elena Rybakina beat Germany’s Nastasja Schunk 7-6(3), 7-5 and will meet second-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain in the second round.
Finally, Eva Lys, a 20-year-old German who was born in Ukraine, pleased the home fans by defeating Viktorija Golubic 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in her professional debut. The match lasted three hours and nine minutes.
In the second round, Lys, ranked 342and in the world, will have the daunting task of facing world number one Iga Swiatek on Wednesday.