Mississauga tennis star advances to quarter-finals at Italian Open

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Published May 12, 2022 at 10:54 am

Mississauga's Bianca Andreescu advances to next round of French Open

Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu is on a roll at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, and her winning ways have earned her a quarter-final match tomorrow (May 13) against the world’s top-ranked player.

Playing in just her third tournament since taking a break in 2019 due to a knee injury and mental health concerns, Andreescu, 21, bested Croatia’s Petra Martic (world’s 47th-ranked player) 6-4, 6-4 today (May 12) to advance to the final eight.

Andreescu, No. 90 in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, will battle WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek, of Poland, in Friday’s quarter-final action at the clay-court event.

It marks the first time since returning to action that the Mississauga athlete has advanced as far as the quarter-finals.

Andreescu, who said recently that her passion for tennis has returned, defeated Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz (6-3, 7-6) and England’s Emma Raducanu (6-2, 2-1) earlier in tournament play.

Parrizas-Diaz is ranked No. 51 while Toronto-born Raducanu, No. 12 in the world, withdrew from the first-round match due to a back injury.

Andreescu, who burst onto the world tennis scene with a surprise US Open win in 2019, told media on Tuesday at the Italian Open that the past few years have been tough for her, but she’s slowly “getting to my top form” again.

On May 1, Andreescu defeated the United States’ Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-1 at the Mutua Madrid Open for her first win over a top-10 opponent since 2019.

Collins was ranked No. 8 at the time (now 9th).

In April, Andreescu returned to the court after a six-month absence to play at the Prosche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

Andreescu has battled through a number of injuries since capturing the hearts of many in this country in 2019 when she won the US Open, the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Over the last three years, her play has been limited to just 36 matches due to a knee injury and COVID-19. When she did play, she was inconsistent and bowed out of tournaments early.

She says she has taken the time off to prepare herself both physically and mentally, and adds her passion for the game has returned.

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