Mississauga’s Andreescu eliminated in second round of Australian Open

Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu hasn’t found her groove yet.

Making her return to competitive tennis after 15 months, the Canadian was eliminated from the Australian Open in straight sets, Wednesday, falling 6-3, 6-2 in her second-round match to Hsieh Su-Wei.

“I’m just disappointed that today that was my all because I know I gave my all today and, to me, I think that was the most disappointing part in my initial evaluation of the match,” Andreescu said she told her coach after getting off the court.

“(Su-Wei) played really well, I have to give credit to her. I definitely have to get back into the groove of things. Hopefully that’ll be sooner or later.”

Taiwan’s Su-Wei, ranked No. 71 in the world, mixed things up well and kept Andreescu off balance to win the match in 83 minutes.

“Even in those tough moments, I thought I could break her a little bit,” said Andreescu, who was the tournament’s No. 8 seed. “But she was on every single ball. I had a little bit of experience about what I was going to expect, and I knew she was a really, really tough opponent and she likes to change it up.”

Andreescu returned from a knee injury with a three-set victory Monday in the opening round of the Grand Slam event thanks in large part she said to winning some 80 per cent of her first serves.

That wasn’t the case on this day, with just 60 per cent of her first serves in play and 25 unforced errors compared to 14 by Hsieh. 

“Going into this match I was like, ‘Everything’s going to be fine,’ and then my serve was absolute crap today,” she said. “So yeah, that didn’t help. I wanted to take control from the start, which having a good serve, putting your serve in really helps with. . .but I couldn’t just do it today.”

The 2019 U.S. Open champion didn’t put any expectations on herself coming into the Australian Open and will take what she can from this moving forward.

“I know that my preparation was the best preparation I think I’ve ever had, so I feel confident with that,” the 20-year-old explained. “I think now it’s just getting back into play and it’s good to know I still have that fighting spirit in me. I’m able to give it my all on the court.”