Andreescu wins in Strasbourg, but withdraws from next QF due to injury
No.1 seed Bianca Andreescu added another clay-court victory to her tally as she qualified for the Strasbourg International quarter-finals on Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over qualifier Maryna Zanevska.
But the Canadian withdrew from her next quarter-final due to an abdominal injury she sustained during the game.
“I’m super happy with today’s win,” Andreescu told media after his victory. “I’m going to retire from my next match, because I felt a little abdominal tear, and I don’t want to push at all for Roland Garros. I don’t want to take any risks. Nothing serious though. It’s a bit uncomfortable. “
Andreescu has now won two matches in a WTA-level clay tournament for the first time in his career. Her 65-minute win over the Belgian was only her third singles match in a WTA surface event overall.
World number 7 Andreescu lost a break in the second set at 4-2. However, the 2019 US Open champion regained that deficit to win the last four games of the clash.
Zanevska, currently ranked 259th but with a career ranking of World No.105, claimed her first WTA-level victory since 2018 against compatriot Yuliya Hatouka in the first round. However, she was unable to secure her first Top 10 victory over Andreescu despite things being competitive in the second set.
Andreescu dominated the opening set, firing a winning forehand to win his second break of the day to lead 5-1. After double faulting outside of her initial set point in the very next game, she slammed an overload to convert her second chance and close the opening frame.
The seed also took the lead with an early break in the second set, but things started to get more difficult as Zanevska tightened his shots and stepped up his aggression. The Belgian broke Andreescu out of love to tie the set at 2-2, then found a handful of fine setbacks to break again for 4-2 and have a chance to push the game into a decisive third set.
But a rally winner in the forehand on a break point in the next game pulled Andreescu again on serve, and it was the Canadian’s turn to reduce her unforced errors and regain control. At 4-4, a deep comeback from the breaking point helped Andreescu score another break and a 5-4 lead, and she served the game to love from there.
However, it was in this second set that Andreescu felt uneasy, which will prevent him from going beyond the quarter-finals in Strasbourg.
Andreescu felt uneasy about a serve in the second set. “Super disappointing to have to retire, but the tennis I played in both matches was really, really good. I performed everything exactly as I wanted…. So I’m very happy with these two matches in front of the French. . “
– WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) May 25, 2021
The number 2 seed Jessica Pegula saw her Strasbourg campaign end prematurely in the first round. Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands beat world number 29 from the United States, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and a half.
Rus won over two-thirds of the points returning Pegula’s second serve, smashing the American five times. The win continues good clay-court form for Rus, who reached the final of his most recent event, an ITF Challenger clay-court event in La Bisbal D’Emporda, Spain.
Rus, ranked No.84, posted a number of career highlights on the clay courts of France. She upset Kim Clijsters, then world number 2 at Roland Garros in 2011, and reached her only appearance in the fourth round of the Grand Slam in Paris the following year.
Wildcard Harmony Tan will be Rus’ opponent in the second round. Tan, who played his first WTA semi-final earlier this season on the clay courts of Bogota, won his first-round match against Alison van Uytvanck, 6-4, 6-4.
Another American seed survived their first-round clash, but barely. No.7 seed Shelby Rogers saved match point and outlasted compatriot Christina McHale, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 7-5, in one of the longest games of the season nowadays.
Rogers needed 3 hours and 23 minutes to cancel McHale’s challenge and reach the second round. However, Rogers was one point away from winning in two sets: She held match point at 6-5 in the second set tie-break before McHale rewound the next three points to sweep the set.
Rogers then led 4-1 in the third before McHale won four in a row to reach 5-4. McHale then had his own match point in this game, but Rogers held it 5-5, then won the last two games with relative ease to seal victory from a precarious position.
Rogers will meet German qualifier Jule Niemeier in the second round. Niemeier beat teammate Diane Parry 6-4, 6-3 in their first round clash, securing her first-ever WTA main draw victory after an hour and 19 minutes of play.
Alizé Cornet, however, had to withdraw from her second-round game due to injury, as she trailed No.8 seed Magda Linette 7-6 (2), 3-0. Cornet, the 2013 Strasbourg champion, suffered a right hip injury, putting Linette in the quarter-finals.
“I felt really sudden pain in the first game of the game so it’s really bad luck,” Cornet told reporters after his retirement.
“But you know me, I kept playing, I kept trying, and I was even in a position to win the [first] set, “Cornet continued.” But every time I ran it was quite difficult, and in the second set it got a little worse. “