WHAT HAPPENED: In her main draw debut at the US Open, Canadian teenager and world No. 15 Bianca Andreescu defeated 17-year-old American wild card Katie Volynets, 6-2, 6-4.
Andreescu has had a stellar 2019 and holds a 7-0 record against Top 10 players this year. She captured titles at Indian Wells (where she defeated Angelique Kerber) and Toronto (where she defeated Karolina Pliskova, Kiki Bertens and an ailing Serena Williams) and made the finals in Auckland (where she defeated Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki). She’s no doubt hoping to transfer that run of form to the last major of the year, as lingering injuries took her out of contention at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
In the first set, the early exchanges between Andreescu and Volynets were grueling, and the pair traded breaks before Andreescu eventually took over with her variety and shotmaking prowess. She consistently pinned the young American back with her groundstrokes, eliciting cheers from the large pro-Canada contingent in the crowd. So delighted were they by the Mississauga, Ontario native’s play, they broke out into "O Canada" right before she served out the set, at 5-2.
Volynets—who earned her wild card by winning the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 18s National Championship—stayed competitive for much of the second set, holding serve to 4-4. Andreescu didn’t see a break point until the ninth game and, unfortunately for Volynets, that was all the Canadian needed. Andreescu converted on her first opportunity and served out the match.
WHAT IT MEANS: It’s hard to believe given her season so far, but this was Andreescu’s first main draw win at the US Open. A Round of 16 showdown looms with reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep; Andreescu, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Romania, has talked about her admiration for the Romanian star. The two have never played. Next up is Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens, who defeated Wang Xiyu, last year’s US Open junior champion.
MATCH POINT: In this era of aggressive baseliners, Andreescu came to the net 23 times and won the point 18 of those times, a 78 percent success rate.
