Mississauga tennis star knocks off higher-ranked opponent in Mexico

Bianca Andreescu is at it again.

Knocking off higher-ranked opponents in impressive fashion early in tournaments, as she did yesterday (Oct. 17) in Mexico, has become somewhat commonplace this year for the 22-year-old Mississauga tennis star.

However, she has struggled to bring her “A” game to the court later in tournaments, against both lesser-ranked and higher-ranked opponents.

Andreescu, who fell two rungs on the ladder (No. 57 to No. 59 currently) in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings after being ousted in the round of 16 last week at the San Diego Open, handily defeated WTA No. 36 Jil Teichman (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-4 in opening-round action Monday at the WTA 1000 Guadalajara in Mexico.

The Mississauga native won 61 per cent of her first-serve points in the match, which lasted 80 minutes.

Andreescu next plays tonight (Oct. 18) at 6 p.m. in a round of 32 match, her opponent WTA No. 21 Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic).

She remains in search of a tournament victory as she seeks to return to the top of the women’s singles rankings.

In her bid to bust back into the top rankings, Andreescu has struggled to find consistency in her game this year–sometimes showing glimpses of the talent that allowed her to secure a stunning U.S. Open title in 2019 while at other times losing to lesser-ranked opponents.

She has struggled since 2019, and has fallen to her current No. 59 ranking after climbing as high as No. 48 last month during the U.S. Open.

Last week’s action in San Diego marked the Mississauga athlete’s first court action since her ousting in the third round of the U.S. Open in New York in early September.

Andreescu continues her roller coaster journey back to what she hopes will be a prominent WTA ranking once again. She climbed as high as No. 4 in the world after bursting onto the scene with her stunning U.S. Open title in New York in 2019.

After her successful 2019 results, Andreescu fell on tougher times soon after. For two years or so, she battled injuries, a bout with COVID-19 and mental health issues.

She didn’t play at all in 2020.