TORONTO — Regardless of how she performed on Thursday afternoon, 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu was already set to become the highest-ranked teenager on the WTA tour by this time next week.
In front of a hometown crowd on centre court, she showed precisely why.
Facing fifth-ranked Kiki Bertens, the rising star — already the world’s 27th ranked player after a meteoric rise — showed off all aspects of her well-rounded game and took her record to 6-0 against top-five players, becoming just the fifth Canadian woman to reach a quarter-finals at the Rogers Cup in the last 40 years with an impressive 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 victory.
The oft-demonstrative Andreescu has found success at tennis’s top-level thanks to a potent blend of skills and an elite court sense, but, as has been the case all tournament long, her mental resolve helped her stand apart.
Andreescu entered this year’s tournament following nearly three months away from action due to a shoulder injury. Any hopes of easing back into action were dashed through the first two rounds, where she spent nearly five hours on the court following a pair of three-set matches. Her opponent, on the other hand, earned a first-round bye and won handily in round two in one hour and five minutes.
She came out of the gates playing like she wanted to avoid yet another marathon match (narrator: she wouldn’t), getting out to a quick 40-0 lead in the opening game until storm clouds unleashed rain on the Aviva Centre, sending her — and everybody else — for cover.
After nearly an hour delay, she resumed right where she left off. The full arsenal was on display — the booming forehand, slicing backhands, an efficient first serve and deadly drop shots that would reappear throughout the match.
Her opponent, Bertens, ranks second on tour in aces, but was broken four times in the opening set, taking her out of rhythm in the process. A 33-minute evisceration, Andreescu took the opening salvo, 6-1.
“She can do everything with the ball,” Bertens said after the match. “She made it tough today.”
The second set was a different story altogether. Bertens responded and showed great control, running her opponent around the court. But Andreescu never relented and showed real resolve, coming back from 40-0 in back-to-back service games to tie the set at 4-4. You could tell she wanted the straight-set victory — she bounced anxiously as Bertens shots dropped — and gave herself the opportunity.
A Bertens ace put the Dutch player up 6-5, but Andreescu came back yet again to force the tie-breaker, where she racked up the mileage as Bertens dictated most points and won 8-6.
“Today, I think I played better than my other matches, especially in the first set. I was on top of the ball, every ball,” Andreescu said. “But as expected, Kiki came back. That’s what top players do.”
Andreescu said following her win on Wednesday night that she plays better angry, a trait she used to her advantage once more on Thursday.
More than a few unforced errors were followed up by forehands shot out of a flamethrower, and it helped fuel a 4-1 lead in the third set.
There are many hard-hitters at this level, but it’s her ability to control her powerful groundstrokes that sets her apart; Andreescu has the coveted combination of both power and a light touch.
Bertens fought back to tie the third set at 4-4 off the strength of her serve, and nearly looked like she was about to force another tie-breaker — there was a moment up 5-4 when Andreescu double-faulted, seemingly distracted by the clanging of a strap against a flagpole in the wind — but the Canadian dug in and took the third set 6-4, and the match.
“I just fought and that’s all that matters to me,” she said.
Next as up is third-seed Karolina Pliskova, another hard-server and top-five player. Here’s betting she takes that challenge head-on, too.
It’s impossible to ignore the bigger-picture of results like Thursday’s.
As Andreescu was battling in Toronto, her teenage counterpart, Felix Auger-Aliassime was doing the same in Montreal. It’s clear that tennis in Canada is at a high-point, and it’s fuelled by the current youth movement that is giving our country a depth of talent we haven’t seen before.
The rise to the top 30 is incredibly difficult and even rarer. Even harder, of course, is maintaining that spot — and rising even further. In that regard, Andreescu has all the ingredients to do just that. She’s far from a one-year wonder. She’s too skilled, and too determined.
There’ll be plenty of room for improvement — she often seems tired late in matches and the jury is out on her ability to remain healthy for long stretches — but in her latest defeat of a top-ranked player, the Canadian teen sensation proved yet again that she’s worth the hype.
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