Andreescu makes a comeback on clay in Strasbourg
Bianca Andreescu’s long-awaited return to the Strasbourg International was swift. The No.1 seed only needed 61 minutes to knock out qualifier Andrea Lazaro Garcia 6-1, 6-2.
Andreescu, who returned from a 15-month layoff in early 2021, has had a stop-start season so far. The Canadian had a stellar run to the Miami final in March, but was forced to retire as he dragged Ashleigh Barty into the title game after injuring her foot. A positive COVID-19 test meant she was unable to compete in Madrid or Rome as planned.
Indeed, this is not the first swing disturbed on clay by Andreescu. During her 2019 breakout season, a shoulder injury excluded her from any preparatory tournament for Roland Garros and forced her to withdraw from Paris after winning her first-round match against Marie Bouzkova.
Today’s game was therefore only the second WTA-level clay-level main draw game of Andreescu’s career. The 2019 US Open champion did not fight world No.279 Lazaro Garcia, 26, a Spaniard who had qualified to make her WTA main draw debut.
Lazaro Garcia took part in the WTA 125 event in Prague last year and ousted seed Monica Niculescu in the second round. But there wouldn’t be another upheaval for the Florida International University alum here.
An error-strewn Lazaro Garcia was held firmly at bay by Andreescu’s power and spin. Andreescu was most troubled by herself: three double faults in the third game of the second set forced her to push back the breaking point for the only time in the game.
Strong serve did the trick, and Andreescu went from there. She sealed her third match point and fifth serve break, as Lazaro Garcia scored a forehand.
Later Monday, Sorana Cirstea clinched a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 victory over former world number one Venus Williams in one hour and 45 minutes, upsetting the direction of their rivalry.
Cirstea had lost her three previous encounters with seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams, but in their very first meeting on clay, the Romanian dominated Williams’ Strasbourg debut.
The victory extends a resurgence in 2021 for 61st World Cirstea, who won her first singles title since 2008 in Istanbul and has seen her rankings improve by 25 places since the end of last season.
Cirstea opened the game with a handful of searing returns, breaking Williams in love in the very first game to set the tone. It was the first of three times Cirstea beat the American in the first quarter, as she took the lead in a set.
Williams picked up the momentum in the second set, advancing through a break and maintaining that lead with key routine serve plays. However, in the decider, Cirstea marked another early break in love for 2-0, and was never challenged from there, closing the clash with her fourth ace.
Cirstea will then face No. 6 seed Zhang Shuai in the second round. Zhang ousted Misaki Doi, 7-5, 6-4 in a well-deserved victory for the Chinese player – she was 0-7 in 2021 so far and had lost her last nine singles matches in aggregate , going back to her. participation in the fourth round at Roland-Garros 2020.
Also on Monday, No.4 seed Yulia Putintseva has won one of the five longest games of the season so far, beating Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in three hours. and 20 minutes. .
Peterson needed six set points in the last game of the second set before leveling the game at one set apiece. Peterson then had chances to serve the game at 5-4, 6-5 in the third set, but Putintseva fell back each time, sending the case into a decisive tie-break in the third set.
Putintseva finally managed to break through the tiebreaker to end the epic clash, winning their second straight meeting with Peterson to tie their head-to-head at 2-2. Putintseva will now meet Jil Teichmann in the second round, after Teichmann defeated Anna Blinkova, 6-2, 6-3.
Elsewhere, Caroline Garcia joined Alizé Cornet to make them two former champions in the second round. The 2016 winner beat Zarina Diyas 7-5, 6-2, snatching the key first set break at its conclusion before going on with the second set.
In a qualifying battle, Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska claimed her first WTA main draw victory since Bucharest 2018, beating Yuliya Hatouka 6-2, 6-1. Hatouka, a 21-year-old Belarusian, was also making her debut in the WTA main draw.
Zanevska’s opponent in the second round: Andreescu, seeded n ° 1.