Bianca Andreescu kicked off her grass-court season with an impressive victory, dominating Taiwan’s Joanna Garland with a score of 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Libema Open.
Displaying remarkable precision, Andreescu did not face a single break point while successfully converting four out of eight break opportunities, wrapping up the match efficiently in just 74 minutes.
The talented 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario, is set to clash with seventh seed Lulu Sun from New Zealand on Wednesday at the ATP/WTA 250 event in s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
A former world No. 4 and the 2019 U.S. Open champion, Andreescu entered the Libema Open ranked No. 118 and is eager to make a significant impact on grass after missing out on qualifying for the French Open’s clay courts.
Carson Branstine, originally from California but proudly representing Canada through her mother, was slated to compete later Tuesday against top seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.
Branstine and Andreescu have teamed up in the women’s doubles draw, aiming for a quarterfinal win on Wednesday against second seeds Fanny Stollar from Hungary and Irina Khromacheva of Russia. The duo previously clinched the girls’ doubles title at the 2017 Australian Open.
In s’Hertogenbosch, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo, alongside Ugo Humbert from France, faced Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Sem Verbeek from the Netherlands but fell short, losing the first-round men’s doubles match 6-3, 6-4.
Nevertheless, Diallo remains in the singles competition, preparing to take on sixth seed Jordan Thompson from Australia in the second round on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in Stuttgart, Germany, fifth seed Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ontario, suffered an upset in the first round of the ATP 250 Boss Open, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 to France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
Rinderknech showcased a strong performance in the decisive third set, converting all three break-point chances to even his career record against Shapovalov to 2-2.
