Canada’s Andreescu wins opening match at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia When faced with adversity in her first competitive match in 15 months, Bianca Andreescu recalled how she persevered in some of her big victories in her breakout 2019 season.

It helped the Canadian overcome a stiff challenge in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 first-round win over Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu on Monday at the Australian Open.

Serving at 3-3 in the deciding set and down love-40, Andreescu reeled off five straight points for the hold and took control of the match from there.

“I have a little bit of a feel of how it is to be in that situation,” she said. “But I was super-relieved to get that game because I’m sure things would have been different afterwards (otherwise).”

Andreescu said it reminded her of a similar three-set win over Angelique Kerber in the 2019 Indian Wells final.

“I was just thinking about that and how calm I was during that match,” she said. “So I was telling myself, ‘Stay calm. Stay cool and just put your first serve in — because I think my first serve today was very effective — which I did.”

A service break followed and Andreescu served out for the win, completing the victory with an overhead smash.

It was part of an impressive 5-0 Day 1 performance by Canadian players at Melbourne Park.

Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino posted straight-set victories in the morning draw. Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., earned wins later in the day.

Shapovalov, the No. 11 seed, was pushed the distance by Italy’s Jannik Sinner, needing all five sets to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over the 19-year-old Italian in nearly four hours.

“It’s not a name you want to see in your draw in the first round,” Shapovalov said. “But on the other side, for me, it was fun leading up to the match. When I saw it, I was like ‘OK, this is exciting.’ He’s in great form. I feel like I had two great matches the week before so I feel like I’m in form.

I was excited for it and it lived up to the expectations. It was a long five-set match, which is literally what I expected.”