Andreescu begins new year on a roll
Canadian teenager slays another tennis icon at ASB Classic in New Zealand
Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu made two key decisions last year that have helped her kick off the 2019 campaign in style.
After recovering from a back injury last summer, she decided to focus on the lower-level challenger series and quickly returned to form. Andreescu also moved her off-season training location from Boca Raton to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which allowed her to practise against tougher opponents.
Those calls helped Andreescu start this season feeling strong and assured. The players she has eliminated at the ASB Classic — including former world No. 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams — can attest to that.
“She showed up in Auckland full of confidence and playing really, really well,” said Canadian women’s head coach Sylvain Bruneau. “To be honest, I knew. We’ve been talking and texting. I knew that she was going to get into the main draw and play the top players. I believe in her game a lot.
“It was a matter of her believing that she could just go out there, play her game, lay it out on the court and just believe.”
A day after stunning Wozniacki in straight sets, Andreescu pulled off another big upset Friday by dispatching Williams — a seven-time Grand Slam champion — 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-3 in quarter-final play. Not bad for a teenage qualifier who started the week ranked No. 152 in the world.
“She’s only 18 and she’s got really, really good potential,” Bruneau said Friday from Melbourne. “From an athletic perspective and also from a competitive standpoint mentally, (she’s) a great athlete. It’s all very exciting.”
After losing the first set and dropping the opening game of the second set, Andreescu won 11 straight games against the sixth-seeded Williams.
The 37-year-old Williams, who turned pro six years before Andreescu was born, is ranked 39th in the world. Wozniacki, meanwhile, is the world No. 3 and the reigning Australian Open champion.
“It feels like a double dream,” Andreescu said.
Next up for the Canadian is a semifinal match against third
seed and 28th-ranked Hsieh SuWei of Chinese Taipei. Unseeded Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia faces No. 2 seed Julia Goerges in the other semifinal after the German downed Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., did post a doubles semifinal win Friday with American Sofia Kenin. They beat the fourth-seeded duo of China’s Xinyun Han and Croatia’s Darija Jurak 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-8.
The hard-court tournament is a warm-up for the Australian Open. Andreescu will hope to land one of 16 qualifier spots in the 128-player main draw at the first Grand Slam of the season.
RAONIC LOSES
Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev reached the semifinals at the Brisbane International by beating Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
The score was level at 4-4 in the third when Medvedev got the decisive break on a succession of unforced errors from the 2016 Brisbane champion.
The fifth-seeded Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., couldn’t cash in on any of his eight break-point opportunities.
Medvedev will play 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Second-seeded Kei Nishikori and Jeremy Chardy had earlier progressed to Saturday’s semifinals.
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and women’s doubles partner Yifan Xu of China, the No. 2 seeds, lost 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 to No. 4 seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan of Taiwan in the semifinals.
OUT OF THE AUSSIE OPEN
Canada’s Vasek Pospisil has dropped out of the Australian Open because of a back injury. The native of Vernon, B.C., who is ranked 70th in the world, hasn’t played since October.
“Very sad to have to withdraw from the @AustralianOpen today,” the 28-year-old Pospisil tweeted. “Unfortunately I have yet to fully recover from the back injury I sustained in October. Hope to be back soon.”
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., are the two remaining Canadians in the main men’s singles draw for the Australian Open.
The first Grand Slam of the season begins Jan. 14.
HOPMAN CUP
Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev sent Germany into the Hopman Cup final in Perth, Australia, with straight-sets victories over Ash Barty and Matt Ebden of Australia on Friday.
Kerber defeated Barty 6-4, 6-4 to give Germany the lead and Zverev followed with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ebden to set up a rematch of last year’s final against Switzerland.
Defending champions Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic clinched the title a year ago.