Canadian teen Andreescu beats Venus Williams in latest upset
Canadian teen Bianca Andreescu was at a loss for words after her second stunning tennis upset in as many days. Less than 24 hours after knocking off world No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, the 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., downed the legendary Venus Williams 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-3 in a quarterfinal on Friday at the ASB Classic.
“I believe that anything is possible and tonight I think I did the impossible,” Andreescu, who had to win three qualifying matches just to get into the tournament, said in an on-court interview after the match.
“I don’t even know what to say. It’s just such an amazing feeling.” Ranked No. 152 in the world, Andreescu beat the top-seeded and former world No. 1 Wozniacki on Thursday before taking out No. 38 Williams, a seventime Grand Slam champion and also a former world No. 1.
“It feels like a double dream,” Andreescu said. “I’m really just speechless. I don’t know if this is a dream, if one of you can pinch me please. Honestly, I’ve worked really hard for this moment. I’m just really grateful.” Andreescu will face the thirdseeded and 28th-ranked Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei in a semifinal on Saturday. The unseeded Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia faces No. 2 seed Julia Goerges in the other semfinal after the German downed Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in a quarterfinal. Andreescu won 11 straight games against the sixth-seeded Williams after losing the first set and falling behind a break at 1-0 in the second set. Andreescu broke right back in a four-deuce second game to begin her roll.
“I was like ‘What is going on. I just broke her five times in a row,”’ Andreescu said. “She’s one of the best servers in the game. Today she didn’t serve as well as other matches I’ve seen her play. But I took control of that. It was
“I’m really just speechless. I don’t know if this is a dream, if one of you can pinch me please. Honestly, I’ve worked really hard for this moment. I’m just really grateful.”
Bianca Andreescu
honestly a gift, maybe like a late Christmas present.”
After going up 5-0 in the third and final set, Andreescu let Williams back in the match. She admitted she was tense.
“I got really tight at 5-0,” Andreescu said. “I’m like ‘I’m one game away from winning this’ but then she started raising her level and I kind of stepped back. At 5-3, I’m like ‘OK screw this. I’m just going to go for everything’ and that’s what I did and it worked. Maybe I should just do that every point.” Andreescu said she purposely stayed off social media after the Wozniacki match, though added she might take a peek following the triumph over Williams. “You have to start somewhere and I guess this is my awakening moment, maybe,” she said. “I’m just really happy and hopefully I continue like this for the rest of the season, for the rest of my career.”
Meanwhile, the 14th-ranked Goerges edged the 87th-ranked Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., in an earlier quarterfinal. Goerges is seeded No. 2 and was last year’s champion. She fired seven aces to take the twohour-28-minute marathon. Bouchard did win a doubles semifinal on Friday, teaming with American Sofia Kenin to beat No. 4 seeds China’s Xinyun Han and Croatia’s Darija Jurak 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-8.
The US$250,000 WTA Tour event is a warmup for the Australian Open. Andreescu will have to attempt to qualify for the first Grand Slam of the season next week because her ranking does not get her in the main draw.