Bianca Andreescu: a major WTA star on the horizon
In her first year on the WTA circuit, Bianca Andreescu has established herself as the major talent in the WTA. Her shock win over three-time slam winner and former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber (6-4, 3-6, 6-4) came on the heels of making her first WTA final, in Auckland, at the beginning of the year.
Auckland was her first tournament of the year.
It was also her first WTA event.
Talk about an entrance on the WTA stage.
A star is born, congratulations @Bandreescu_ what a fighter you are.
— Rod Laver (@rodlaver) March 17, 2019
The 18-year-old from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada has been the player to watch all year long. She proved her place among the greats with the number of Top 10 players she took out at each tournament she entered.
To get to the Auckland final, first, she had sailed through the qualifying rounds. Once in the main draw, she beat the No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki, No. 6 Venus Williams, and No. 3 Hsieh Su-wei along the way, until her nerves got the better of her facing No. 2 seed Julia Görges in the final. Even at the Auckland Open, the teenage sensation didn’t go down without a fight, running out of the gate kicking to take the first set against Görges.
Tennis legend and commentator Martina Navratilova compared the grit and gut of Andreescu’s run at Indian Wells to the fight of Andy Murray.
"Every time we thought, 'This is it – she doesn’t have the game or she doesn’t have the belief, the legs,' she just kept proving us wrong. It was a coming of age tournament. Bianca really came out of nowhere and she deserved to win. She played amazing tennis. This one is here to stay. I'm looking forward to seeing her develop into an even better tennis player."
Prior to the BNP Paribas premiere event, the Canadian upstart also took out top seeds Mihaela Buzărnescu and Zheng Saisai before running into a solid Sofia Kenin in the Mexican Open semifinal.
The fearlessness of youth is one thing, but could the young superstar maintain her composer to capture a title?
Given a wild card at Indian Wells, Andreescu proved her worth by ousting 8-time WTA titlist Dominika Cibulková in just her second match. Her confidence pushed her through to wins over 18th seed Wang Qiang and the surprise win over slam-winner Garbiñe Muguruza, all in straight sets. WTA Finals champion Elina Svitolina gave her a run for her money, but Bianca Andreescu managed to power through that semifinal to book her spot against Kerber.
Andreescu took the first set against Kerber, but the German bounced back to make it an even match, starting to make it look like the first set over the reigning Wimbledon champ was due to youthful fearlessness. What followed, however, was mature strategy as Andreescu put on a shrewd display that over-powered her more seasoned opponent. At the age of 18, the Canadian became the first wild card entry to win the tournament, and the youngest player here since Venus Williams at the age of 17.
“Hopefully, this moment can be a great inspiration for many young athletes because, like I always say, if you believe in yourself, anything is possible,” Bianca Andreescu said at the award ceremony.
That belief translated into a major breakthrough victory on Sunday and established the now Top 30 player as one of the major stars in the game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From a wild card to the Indian Wells champion – Bianca Andreescu just made history. Congratulations, <a href="https://twitter.com/Bandreescu_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Bandreescu_</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BiancaRising?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BiancaRising</a> 🎾🇨🇦 <a href="https://ift.tt/2Oi9Ax6; Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1107437223526498304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">18 March 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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