Canada’s Andreescu rockets up 45 positions
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu jumped 45 positions to a careerhigh No. 107 in the world rankings Monday after her surprising run to the final at the ASB Classic.
The 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., stunned former world No. 1s Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and American Venus Williams en route to her first appearance in a WTA Tour final on Sunday in Auckland, New Zealand.
Andreescu, who won three qualifying matches to enter the main draw, dropped a three-set decision to 14thranked
Julia Goerges of Germany in the championship match.
The US$250,000 tournament is a warmup event for the Australian Open. Qualifying play at the first Grand Slam of the season begins Tuesday. Andreescu, seeded fourth in the 128-player qualifying draw, will open against world No. 181 Katie Swan of Britain.
Two other Canadians will play in the women’s qualifying draw this week.
Rebecca Marino of Vancouver will meet American Caroline Dolehide and Toronto’s Katherine Sebov faces Jessika Ponchet of France.
In men’s play, No. 2 qualifying seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal will open against Belgium’s Arthur De Greef. Tenth-seeded Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., will play American Ernesto Escobedo and Brayden Schnur of Pickering, Ont., meets Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.
Eugenie Bouchard is the top Canadian on the new WTA Tour rankings list at No. 79. The 24-year-old from Westmount, Que., rose eight positions after reaching the quarterfinals at the ASB Classic. Romania’s Simona Halep remained No. 1 in an unchanged top three that includes Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Wozniacki.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is the top Canadian at No. 17 on the ATP list. Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., is No. 27 and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil is No. 71. Pospisil won’t play in the Australian Open because of a back injury. Shapovalov, meanwhile, lost his first match of 2019 on Monday, falling 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Joao Sousa of Portugal. The top three includes Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Switzerland’s Roger Federer.