Canadian tennis star Bianca Andrescu won on her return to action after a long hiatus.
The 21-year-old footballer from Mississauga, Ont., Overcame some nervous moments in the first set on the road to victory with 7-6 (5), 6-3 over German Jules Niemeyer on Tuesday in a match of the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart , Germany.
Andrescu was 5-3 behind in the first set before winning, then took a break early in the second set on the road to victory.
The Canadian faced six break points, saving five of them. She realized three of her four chances to break through.
Andreescu, ranked 121st in the world due to a one-month absence, took part in the wild card tournament. She will then face third-placed Arina Sabalenka of Belarus.
Tuesday’s match was the first of the 2022 season for Andrescu, who announced in December that she was retiring from tennis to recover physically and mentally from a “challenging” two years.
WATCH l Canadian Andrescu qualifies for 2nd round in Stuttgart:
Bianca Andrescu returns and advances to the second round in Stuttgart
Playing in her first competitive game in October, Bianca Andrescu from Mississauga, Ontario, defeated Germany’s Jules Niemeyer 7-6 (5), 6-3 to qualify for the second round of the Stuttgart Open. 3:10
Andreescu tweeted that she had been affected by “weeks of quarantine isolation” after being infected with COVID-19 and her grandmother’s stay for several weeks in the hospital’s intensive care unit because of the coronavirus.
Her last game before Tuesday was a loss in the second round to Annette Contactweight in Indian Wells on October 21.
“I didn’t feel like myself for many days, especially while training and / or playing matches. “I felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders,” Andrescu said. “I couldn’t get away from everything that was happening off the court; I felt the collective sadness and turmoil around me and it affected me. ”
Andrescu was 19 when he finished his breakthrough season, upsetting his idol Serena Williams in the 2019 US Open final. That victory came weeks after she won the Rogers Cup final in Toronto when Williams retired early in the final.
The strength of these victories pushed Andrescu to the best career number 4 in the WTA rankings.
Kasatkina knocked out Gauf
American Coco Gauf was eliminated in the first round after a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Daria Kasatkina.
The 18-year-old Gauf looked in control when leading 4-0 in the first set, but Kasatkina recovered to win the next six games, then missed just two more after finishing the victory in 1 hour and 19 minutes.
The Russian player then faced seventh-placed Ons Jaber, who beat Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Earlier, Elena Ribakina defeated another young German qualifier, Nastasia Schunk, 7-6 (3), 7-5, and then met second-placed Paula Badosa in the second round.
Eva Lis, a 20-year-old Ukrainian-born German, delighted home fans by defeating Victoria Golubich 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in her professional debut. Their match lasted 3 hours and 9 minutes, the joint fourth longest match in the main draw of the WTA this year. The 342nd Lys class was a qualifying substitute.
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