Andreescu Tops Bouchard in All-Canadian Battle at Rogers Cup in Toronto

(August 6, 2019) TORONTO – Over the past several years, Canadian tennis has seen its greatest results of all time. The Tuesday night match in Toronto typically features a Canadian, and a buzz around the grounds. This year was no exception, with two Canadians as the highlight match of the day as upstart Bianca Andreescu took on Eugenie Bouchard.

Andreescu gained serious momentum as one of the WTA’s bright young stars to watch as she won Indian Wells in the spring, becoming the first wildcard to do so. Recently, she has struggled with shoulder issues but claimed to be pain free heading into Tuesday night’s match.

It was a slow start for the young Canadian, who was pushed off balance by Bouchard’s strong pace early in rallies. Bouchard had lost eight straight matches before hand, but looked calm and confident as she took the first set, 6-4.

From then on, Andreescu cut down on unforced errors, particularly from the forehand side, and went on to take the next two sets, ultimately winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

“In the first set I was a bit nervous, ” said Andreescu.” I’m not going to lie. But I shaked those nerves, and I tried to refocus for the second set.

“And I stuck to the right tactics. I made sure to put pressure right from the start of the point, and I think that’s what I really did today.

“I tried to use my serve as an advantage, as well, and tried to put as many returns as possible inside the court.

“But other than that, I’m feeling really good, even with my shoulder. So hopefully I can keep up the rest of the tournament and the rest of the reason too.”

“To be able to play in front of my home crowd is always a special feeling. I’ve had many memories here.

“I played two years ago on that court, so I had a bit of experience of what to expect, but today was crazier than usual because I was playing a Canadian too.

“I’m just really happy with how I played today.”

For Bouchard, it was a good showing in a challenging year for her, and she did her best to take positives from the match. ” I think it was a solid match from me and the best I’ve played since I’ve come back from injury.”

“You know, she’s 20 in the world. She’s a great player. So to battle with her till 6-4 in the third gives me confidence and just motivates me to work even harder.”

Elsewhere, Alison Riske and Donna Vekic both saved three match points in consecutive, long matches on the Grandstand to advance over Maria Sakkari and Madison Keys respectively.

But perhaps the most intriguing story of the day was the continued rise of young American Sofia Kenin who defeated world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty. With several major upsets through the first two days, the draw looks incredibly open heading into the second round. 

Carla Suarez Navarro beat Venus Williams in straight sets on Tuesday.

“She was just extra sharp, said Williams. “And I played a lot of great points but just didn’t put enough in a row. You know, play two great points and then some points not as well. And she just really played sharp off every shot.

“And, yeah, so she just played well.”

Brodie Widdifield is covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto for Tennis Panorama News, follow him on Twitter at @MindTheRacket.