ANDREESCU ADVANCES AFTER RAIN DELAY

PARIS Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu scored a three-set victory over Ysaline Bonaventure in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

Andreescu dropped the opening set, 6-3, before bouncing back to win the next two, 7-5 and 6-0.

“I really said to myself: Stay in the present moment … keep fighting, because it’s not over until it’s over,” Andreescu told TSN. “I really had to put pressure on her — if not, I knew she was going to win.”

The former world No. 4 battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the second set before cruising in the third.

“Just having that fighting spirit until the end really helped me,” said Andreescu, who will face No. 14 seed Belinda Bencic on Wednesday.

Andreescu was up 3-0 in the final set before a two-hour, 20-minute rain delay.

When the skies cleared and play resumed, Andreescu needed just over 10 minutes to finish the job against Bonaventure.

“(Andreescu) raised her game and I was maybe a little bit less aggressive, and in the third set she was clearly better than me,” said the 27-year-old Bonaventure, ranked 168th in the world.

Andreescu came to Paris looking to build on her successful clay court season following a monthslong absence to recuperate physically and mentally from a tough 2021 season.

“It’s great to know that even when I am not playing my best tennis that I can find a way to win,” she said. “I am super happy with how I managed my emotions.”

Canadian Denis Shapovalov plays his opening match Tuesday against Holger Rune.