Andreescu, in the quarterfinals, eliminated from the Strasbourg Open by abdominal injury
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu withdrew from the Strasbourg Open on Tuesday after suffering an abdominal injury in her second-round win over Belgian qualifier Maryna Zanevska.
Andreescu, who completed the 6-1, 6-4 victory in 65 minutes, said he felt a slight pain in his side during the second set. She called it a “little discomfort”, adding that she didn’t want to risk making things worse before the next French Open.
“I don’t think it’s serious,” Andreescu said in a post-match video call with reporters. “But like in the past, I went through a lot of injuries and I just [made] the worst.
“I want to learn from these mistakes. That’s why I don’t want to push before a Grand Slam.”
WATCH | Andreescu is injured during the victory in the 2nd round:
Andreescu, the world No. 7 from Mississauga, Ont., has won back-to-back WTA 250-level tournament victories in her return after a seven-week absence. The clay-court event serves as the focus for the second Grand Slam of the tennis season.
“I executed everything exactly the way I wanted to with my serve, with my return, with my big shots on clay, my movement, all that stuff,” she said.
“So I’m really happy with these two matches against the French.”
Andreescu injured his foot in the Miami Open final last month and then tested positive for COVID-19 when he arrived in Spain for the start of the clay-court season.
She did not play a competitive match for 15 months after tearing the meniscus in her left knee in the WTA Finals in October 2019. The injury hampered Andreescu at the start of 2020 and she refused to return when the WTA Tour resumed last year after play was halted due to the pandemic.
Little experience on clay at the elite level
The 2019 US Open champion improved to 11-3 in 2021.
Andreescu couldn’t pinpoint exactly when she felt discomfort on Tuesday, just that she first felt it after a serve.
She didn’t want to wait and see how she felt on Wednesday before making the decision to retire.
“I’ve done this in the past and it never suits me,” she said.
WATCH | Andreescu defeats Lazaro Garcia in Monday’s first round:
The French Open is a clay-court event – a surface in which Andreescu has little experience at the highest level. Tuesday’s win was just Andreescu’s third on clay at the WTA/Grand Slam level.
“It’s nice to be back first of all, playing on clay,” she said. “A lot of the preparation before that was really great. I think I portrayed that in my matches.
“Hopefully I can build on this momentum for the next tournament and keep picking up wins.”
The best player in the draw besides top seed Andreescu, meanwhile, was eliminated on Tuesday.
Second seed Jessica Pegula of the United States lost a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.
Marino quickly ousted in Roland-Garros qualifying
Canadian Rebecca Marino is absent from the French Open qualifying tournament after suffering a first-round defeat.
Marino of Vancouver lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to 20th-seeded qualifier Claire Liu of the United States on Tuesday in Paris.
Liu converted eight of 18 break point chances to win the first of three games needed to qualify for the second Grand Slam of the year.
Marino, ranked 252nd in the world, will not play her second Grand Slam in a row.
The Canadian qualified for the Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam since 2013 and also won her first round match.
Marino helped Canada beat Serbia with a singles win in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs earlier this year.
Canadians Carol Zhao and Steven Diez will play the second round qualifiers on Wednesday.