Mississauga’s Andreescu bows out in opening round of French Open

By

Published May 31, 2021 at 6:06 pm

andreescu

Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu’s return to the clay courts didn’t last long.

The No. 6 seed is out of the French Open after suffering a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (2), 9-7 first-round loss to world No. 85 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia on Monday.

The three-hour, 20-minute battle saw Andreescu make 63 unforced errors and marks the first loss for the Canadian on the clay court. She has played four matches.

Andreescu was actually 5-4 in the deciding set and serving for the match, but the Canadian was unable to seal the deal.

This season has been a tough go for Andreescu, who was returning to the court after having to pull out of last week’s Strasbourg event with abdominal discomfort after winning two matches.

That came after the 20-year-old was off for seven weeks.

She suffered a foot injury that forced her to quit the final of the Miami Open and then tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Spain for the Madrid Open.

“From my part, I didn’t feel like I played good tennis today,” Andreescu told the wtatennis.com. “But at the same time, she played really, really well. She threw me off a lot with her heavy, spinny shots and her variety.

“But at least thinking on the positive side, I’m healthy, and I was able to fight as hard as I could. Physically I felt good.”

It was the first win over a top-10 opponent for Zidansek, who is into the second round of the French Open for the first time.

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising