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Bianca Andreescu: The Meteoric Rise of the 2019 US Open Champion

Bianca Andreescu is a professional tennis player from Canada who became famous after defeating legendary tennis player Serena Williams in the final of the 2019 US Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows, New York. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world, and is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Andreescu is the reigning champion at the US Open and the Canadian Open, having defeated Serena Williams to win both titles. She is the first Canadian tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first to win the Canadian Open in 50 years. She is also the first player to win a Grand Slam singles title as a teenager since Maria Sharapova in 2006.

Bianca Andreescu began playing tennis in her parents’ home country of Romania before returning to Canada where she was born. Bianca Andreescu was quite a successful junior tennis player. She was victorious at the Orange Bowl and captured two Grand Slam doubles titles with Carson Branstine. She climbed all the way to World Number 3 as a junior. Bianca Andreescu didn’t play a single match during 2018, but she had a breakout year in 2019. She started the season with a bang, finishing as the runner-up in the season’s first tournament, Auckland Open. She then rose to prominence by winning the Indian Wells Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament. Although she missed several months due to injury, Andreescu qualified for the WTA Finals at the end of the season and finished the year ranked No. 5. Bianca Andreescu’s style of play that combines power with variety has been widely regarded as “fun to watch” by tennis commentators and journalists. She has strong support from both Canadian and Romanian fanbases.

Bianca Andreescu: All You Need to Know

When was Bianca Andreescu born?

Bianca Vanessa Andreescu was born on June 16, 2000 in Mississauga, Ontario to Nicu and Maria Andreescu. Ontario is famous for a host of intriguing things to do. Her parents emigrated from Romania to Canada in 1994 when her father accepted a job in the country. Andreescu’s father works as a mechanical engineer at an automotive company, while her mother had worked at a bank in Romania. Her family moved back to Romania when Bianca was six years old so that her mother could start a business in their home country. After two and a half years, they closed the business and returned to Canada. Her mother has since worked as the chief compliance officer at a financial services company.

When did Bianca Andreescu start playing tennis?

Bianca Andreescu began playing tennis in Pitești at the age of seven. She was initially coached by Gabriel Hristache, a friend of her father. When she returned to Canada, she trained at the Ontario Racquet Club in Mississauga before moving to the U14 National Training Centre in Toronto operated by Tennis Canada. She began training more seriously at the age of twelve.

Bianca Andreescu: Junior Career

Bianca Andreescu (right) and Carson Branstine (left) with the 2017 Junior Australian Open Girls Doubles Championship

Bianca Andreescu had a career-high junior ranking of No. 3 in the world, which she achieved in early 2016. She had early success as a junior, winning Les Petits As, a prestigious under-14 tournament, in 2014. She also won the under-16 Orange Bowl at the end of the year, becoming the fourth Canadian in a row to win that event. Andreescu began playing under-18 events on the ITF Junior Circuit in late 2013. She won her first titles in 2014, three in singles and one in doubles, at Grade 4 and Grade 5 tournaments, the two lowest levels.

Andreescu moved up to higher-level events in early 2015, winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Condor De Plata tournament in Bolivia, her first Grade 2 tournament. She finished runner-up to compatriot Charlotte Robillard-Millette at the Open International Junior de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, her first Grade 1 tournament. Andreescu had less immediate success at the highest-level Grade A tournaments, losing her opening round matches at her first four such events, which included the last three Grand Slam events of the year. Nonetheless, she defeated Robillard-Millette in their home country to win the Canadian Open Junior Championships during the summer, her first Grade 1 title. Late in the year, Andreescu reached both the singles and doubles final at the Yucatán Cup, finishing runner-up to Kayla Day in singles while winning her first doubles title at the Grade 1 level. At her last tournament of the year, Andreescu defeated Day to win the Orange Bowl, her first Grade A title. She was the first player to win the girls’ under-16 and under-18 titles in back-to-back years since Mary Joe Fernández in 1984 and 1985. During the season, Andreescu also represented Canada at the Junior Fed Cup with Robillard-Millette and Vanessa Wong. Andreescu and Robillard-Millette lost the decisive doubles rubber in the semifinals against the Czech Republic. However, they recovered to win both of their singles rubbers against Russia to take third place. Andreescu was named Outstanding Junior Female by Tennis Canada at the end of the year.

Andreescu had more success at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2016, but did not win any titles in singles or doubles at any level. As the top seed at the Australian Open in both singles and doubles, she withdrew from both events after two matches each because of recurring injuries involving her left adductor and right ankle, as well as a stress fracture in her foot. These injuries kept her out for six months. Andreescu returned to competition at Wimbledon, where she lost in the third round. At the US Open, she had her best run at a Grand Slam event to date, eventually losing in the semis. The last two junior events of Andreescu’s career came in 2017 at the Grand Slam tournaments. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open where she lost to Rebeka Masarova. She then made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open at her last singles event, losing to Claire Liu. Despite losing in the singles category, Andreescu went on to capture the doubles crown at both the tournaments along with her partner Carson Branstine. The pair defeated the Polish team of Maja Chwalińska and Iga Świątek in the Australian Open final, and the Russian team of Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova in the French Open final. With their French Open title, Andreescu and Branstine became the first Canadian team to win a Grand Slam girls’ doubles title.

When did Bianca Andreescu start playing on the ITF Women’s Circuit?

Andreescu began playing on the ITF Women’s Circuit in July 2015. She finished runner-up to No. 155 Alexa Glatch in her professional tournament, an ITF $25K event in Gatineau. She was given wild cards into qualifying at the Canadian Open in 2015 and 2016, but was unable to qualify. Andreescu missed most of the first half of 2016 due to injury. When she returned, she began having success at ITF events in Canada. She won her first ITF titles in singles and doubles at the August 2016 event in Gatineau, winning the doubles with junior rival Robillard-Millette. In October, she finished runner-up in both the singles and doubles events at the higher-level $50K Challenger de Saguenay, again partnering with Robillard-Millette. During the singles event, she defeated No. 113 Jennifer Brady in a third-set tiebreak in the semifinals before losing to No. 111 CiCi Bellis in the final.

Andreescu won two more ITF $25K titles in early 2017, which helped her break into the top 200 of the WTA rankings. After losing in qualifying at the French Open, she was able to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon. She lost her Grand Slam debut to No. 105 Kristína Kučová. Later in the month, she was awarded a wild card into the main draw of the Washington Open. Bianca Andreescu achieved her first ever win on the WTA tour by defeating Camila Giorgi in the opening round of the tournament. In her next match, she upset world No. 13 Kristina Mladenovic to advance to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Andrea Petkovic. A few weeks later, she made her Canadian Open main draw debut as a wild card, losing to No. 55 Tímea Babos. Andreescu entered qualifying at the US Open, but lost her opening match. In the last stage of the season, Andreescu had more success in doubles. Andreescu and her partner Branstine made their first ever WTA tour final at theTournoi de Québec. They finished runner-up to top seeds Tímea Babos and Andrea Hlaváčková. She then partnered with compatriot Carol Zhao to win the doubles title at the $60K Challenger de Saguenay. Andreescu’s best ranking during the year was No. 143 and she finished the season at No. 182.

Andreescu did not play any WTA Tour-level matches in 2018. She entered qualifying for all four majors, but did not qualify for any of them. She came the closest at the French Open and Wimbledon, falling one match short at both. Andreescu played primarily at the $25K level, reaching four finals. She had two runner-up finishes in April and two titles late in the season. One of her best results at higher-level events was a quarterfinal at the $100K Midland Tennis Classic. She also reached the semifinals of the $60K Challenger de Granby, where she withdrew due to a back injury. This injury kept her out of the Canadian Open. After attempting to qualify at the US Open, she did not return to competition until late October. Andreescu’s two late-season titles helped her finish the year at No. 152 in the world.

Despite entering the year having not played a WTA match in over 14 months, Andreescu had a breakthrough season that took her from well outside the top 100 into the upper echelon of women’s tennis. She began the season by qualifying for the main draw at the Auckland Open, where she made her first WTA singles final. During the tournament, she upset top seed and world No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki and defeated three top 40 players before finishing runner-up to defending champion and second seed Julia Görges. She also qualified for the Australian Open and won one match against Whitney Osuigwe, her first win in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Before the end of the month, Andreescu won a WTA 125K title at the Oracle Challenger Series in Newport Beach. With these three tournament results, she rose from No. 152 at the start of the year to No. 107 after the Auckland runner-up to No. 68 after the Australian Open and 125K title, a large enough ascent to become Canada’s top-ranked player on the WTA Tour.

Bianca Andreescu: 2019 US Open Champion 

Bianca Andreescu (centre) and Serena Williams (left) at the US Open Trophy Presentation

Bianca Andreescu continued her hot streak with a semifinal run at the Mexican Open. She then had an even larger breakthrough at the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open, where she won her first WTA title. Andreescu defeated four top 20 players in the last four rounds, including No. 6 Elina Svitolina and No. 8 Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and final respectively, both in three sets. She became the first wild card women’s singles champion in tournament history and was the first 18-year-old to win the event since Serena Williams in 1999. This title also took her to No. 24 in the WTA rankings. Andreescu defeated Kerber again at the Miami Open a week later. However, she then suffered a right shoulder injury in the fourth round of the event that forced her to retire from the match. Andreescu’s shoulder injury kept her out of all but one tournament until August. She attempted an early comeback at the French Open, but ultimately withdrew after one match. Andreescu made her next return at her home tournament, the Canadian Open, where she won her second high-level Premier tournament of the year. She won her first four matches in straight sets, including the last two over top ten opponents in No. 5 Kiki Bertens and No. 3 Karolína Plíšková. She defeated No. 10 Serena Williams in the final, who needed to retire due to back spasms down 1–3 in the first set. With these three top ten victories, Andreescu improved her record against top ten opponents to 7–0 to open her career. With the title, she moved up to No. 14 in the world. She also became the first Canadian to win the tournament since Faye Urban in 1969.

Andreescu’s best result of the year came at the US Open, where she won her first Grand Slam title. She advanced to the final without facing a top-ten opponent, with her biggest wins coming against No. 19 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round and No. 12 Belinda Bencic in the semifinals. Her opponent in the final was again Serena Williams. Andreescu defeated Williams in straight sets to win the title. She became the first Canadian tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first teenage Grand Slam singles champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 US Open. She also became the first player to win the US Open in their main draw debut, and the quickest to win a Grand Slam singles title by main draw appearances with just four, a record she shares with Monica Seles. She also rose to No. 5 in the world.

What has Bianca Andreescu done since winning the 2019 US Open?

Bianca Andreescu’s 16-match win streak was ended in the quarterfinals of the China Open by No. 4 Naomi Osaka, which was also her first career loss against a top ten opponent. She closed out the year at the WTA Finals, where she withdrew after two losses to Simona Halep and Plíšková due to a knee injury. At the end of the season, Andreescu was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete of the year. She was the first tennis player to win the award. Bianca Andreescu is quite young but she has already suffered a lot of injuries. she needs to take better care of her conditioning as personal injury lawyers are not going to come and help her earn money despite getting injured.

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