Mississauga’s Andreescu falls to world’s top player in Rome

Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu ran into the sports equivalent of a brick wall today (May 13) in Rome.

Having won three consecutive matches to advance to today’s quarter-final round at the Italian Open tennis tournament, Andreescu, 21, fell decisively 6-7, 0-6 to Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) No. 1-ranked player in the world.

Playing in just her third tournament since taking a break in 2019 due to a knee injury and mental health concerns, the Mississauga tennis star made a statement at this week’s Italian Open that she may be returning to the previous form that saw her shock the tennis world by winning the US Open three years ago.

Bianca Andreescu threw everything at Iga Świątek in their quarter-final at the #IBI22, but once the World No. 1 gets rolling, she is hard to stop.

A great fight from Bianca, but Iga picks up her 26th win in a row. Read more: 👇https://t.co/w7AcM5DosK

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) May 13, 2022

However, Swiatek, who has been dominant this year, made her own statement today by extending her winning streak to 26 matches.

According to reports from European media, Swiatek slowly wore Andreescu down in a lengthy opening set before dominating in the second set.

In earlier action this week, the Mississaugan, ranked 90th in the world heading into the Italian Open, defeated Croatia’s Petra Martic (No. 47) 6-4, 6-4, Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz (No. 51) 6-3, 7-6 and England’s Emma Raducanu (No. 12) 6-2, 2-1.

Andreescu, who said recently that her passion for tennis has returned, upended the Toronto-born Raducanu in an abbreviated match when the latter withdrew from first-round action due to a back injury.

Andreescu, who burst onto the world tennis scene with a surprise US Open win in 2019, told media on Tuesday at the Italian Open that the past few years have been tough for her, but she’s slowly “getting to my top form” again.

On May 1, Andreescu defeated the United States’ Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-1 at the Mutua Madrid Open for her first win over a top-10 opponent since 2019.

Collins was ranked No. 8 at the time (now 9th).

In April, Andreescu returned to the court after a six-month absence to play at the Prosche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

Andreescu has battled through a number of injuries since capturing the hearts of many in this country in 2019 when she won the US Open, the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Over the last three years, her play has been limited due to a knee injury and COVID-19. When she did play, she was inconsistent and bowed out of tournaments early.

She says she has taken the time off to prepare herself both physically and mentally, and adds her passion for the game has returned.