Mississauga tennis star hopes to recapture winning form in New York City

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Published August 25, 2023 at 5:24 pm

(Photo: Pascal Ratthe, via Tennis Canada Twitter)

Perhaps a return to the scene of the greatest moment so far in her tennis career will be just what the doctor ordered to get Bianca Andreescu back in top form.

The 23-year-old Mississauga native brings her inconsistent game to Flushing Meadows in New York City next week for the final Grand Slam event of the 2023 tennis season, the U.S. Open.

Andreescu, who stunned the tennis world with a victory at the U.S. Open in 2019, opens this year’s installment of the prestigious tournament on Monday (Aug. 28) with a first-round match against a familiar foe, Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Tsurenko, 34, is ranked No. 45 on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) circuit while Andreescu sits at No. 51.

The two have gone head-to-head several times in tournament play in the last 18 months or so, with the Ukrainian victorious in all three matches.

Most recently, Tsurenko defeated Andreescu in straight sets in third-round play at the 2023 French Open back in June.

Following her big win in New York City in 2019, after which she rose to an all-time high ranking of No. 4 on the WTA singles circuit, the Canadian eventually fell on hard times on the tennis court.

A hiatus from the sport followed, with Andreescu not playing at all in 2021, and she’s been on the comeback trail since early 2022.

She’s also been hindered by several injuries as she attempts to climb back into the top 10.

Andreescu has been inconsistent in her play for well over a year now as she tries to get back among the elite in women’s tennis. On many occasions, she has lost to a lower-ranked opponent during her comeback bid from the year-long self-imposed hiatus in 2021.

The news on the comeback trail hasn’t been all bad for Andreescu, though. At times, she has shown glimpses of the player who shocked the tennis world with her U.S. Open win.

Case in point, her performance in mixed doubles action in June at the French Open, one of tennis’ four Grand Slam events (Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open are the others).

The pair of Andreescu and Michael Venus (New Zealand) made it to the final before falling to Japan’s Miyu Kato and Germany’s Tim Putz.

In July, she started strong at Wimbledon before being eliminated in the third round.

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