It took Bianca Andreescu a little over an hour to defeat Arantxa Rus 6-4, 6-2 and help Canada advance to the FED Cup playoffs. This probably wasn’t the 18-year old’s best career game, but it was enough to get the job done. On the other hand, her opponent from the Netherlands was far from her best.
Thanks to Andreescu’s win on Sunday, Canada is now leading 3-0 over the Netherlands, but more importantly, it meant the match was over since the outcome in the remaining two ties could have done anything to affect the final result.
Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu plays against Irina Begu from Romania during a Fed Cup match – salajean / Shutterstock.com
In the end, Canada recorded another win, winning the duel in ‘s-Hertogenbosch 4-0. The next stop for the Canadian FED team is the FED Cup playoffs in April, where they’ll have the chance to qualify for the World Group.
An Excellent Game for Andreescu
Speaking about her performance, Bianca said her level had been below average, but pointed out the mental aspect was crucial during the weekend.
The Dutch player had to breaks in the first set, but Andreescu not only returned the favour but managed to break her a total of three times. In the second set, she converted on both break points on her way to a comfortable 6-2 win.
Andreescu started the weekend by beating Richel Hogenkamp, with Francoise Abanda then won the game against Rus for a 2-0 lead. The final result was set by Gabriela Dabrowski and Rebecca Marin, who defeated Bibiane Schoofs and Demi Schuurs, 2-6, 7-5, 12-10.
Canada’s team captain Heidi El Tabakh said she was proud of the girl, who trained hard all week. El Tabakh added this had been an incredible first FED Cup experience for her as the captain, and stated she was looking forward to many more to come.
A Season to Remember
The Mississauga, Ontario born player is having a season of her dreams, winning 16 out of her 18 matches in tour level, including her first her career title at the Challenger in California last month. She also improved her WTA rankings, and since this week she’s at number 70.
The match against the Netherlands was her eight FED Cup time, and with two wins over the weekend she improved her record in the competition to 10-3. In April last year, she helped Canada win over Ukraine in Montreal, after her and won the decisive doubles duel.
Born in 2000, Andreescu’s career-high combine junior ranking of number 3 in 2016, while her best singles ranking was 68 on January 28, 2019. She won the 2017 Australian Open and French Open junior titles, playing with Carson Branstine. The same year, Tennis Canada named her female player of the year.