TORONTO –
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu lost to China’s Zheng Qinwen 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 as she was knocked out of the National Bank Open on Thursday.
Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., was the last Canadian to play in women’s tennis.
Felix Auger-Aliassime was the only Canadian left in the men’s event in his hometown of Montreal.
Zheng will face Czech Republic’s Karolína Plíšková on Friday in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament.
It was the first time the 53rd ranked player Andreescu played against the world number 51 Zheng.
Andreescu won the 2019 edition of the event when it was last held in Toronto, winning after all-time great Serena Williams retired due to injury.
Down 5-4 in the first set, Andreescu beat a volley out of Zheng’s reach to make it 40-0 in the 10th set of the match. Clever play drew loud cheers from the partisan crowd at Sobeys Stadium and then Andreescu’s first ace sealed the score 5-5.
The crowd included Toronto Blue Jays track athletes Santiago Espinal and Bo Bichette as well as Olympic sprinter Andre De Grasse.
An ace from Zheng made it 6-5 and then, after a protracted rally, the Chinese used an aerial smash to win the set 7-5.
Andreescu made the most of his home field advantage, keeping the crowd going after key points in the second set.
She hit her fists and screamed after Zheng’s return point in the match exceeded the baseline limit. Andreescu then raised his hand, encouraging fans to cheer as Zheng’s comeback was far from over.
That momentum did not continue in the third set, with Andreescu quickly falling behind at 3-1.
Though Andreescu won a game point, she earned chants of “Let’s go Bi-bi!” she dropped three break points when Zheng led 4-2. A hard forehand smash to Zheng’s opposite court added to that advantage.
Zheng doubled the lead when Andreescu ran into his own goal and the 19-year-old Chinese shot the ball deep but narrowly.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland was defeated by Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 earlier in the day. The underrated Haddad Maia disappointed 13th seed Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., on Wednesday.
Haddad Maia will face the winner of the Round of 16 match between Belinda Bencic and Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Serve was a problem for Swiatek with nine double fouls with one by Haddad Maia. The top tennis player from Poland said that swirling winds in the bowl-shaped stadium were a problem for her.
“At the moment it’s hard to say whether it was her game or the wind that really messed up my first set,” said Swiatek, who played Haddad Maia for the first time for the first time, said. firstly. “I think she just used better conditions than me.
“When she played with the wind, she played very strong balls and sometimes I was late to them.”
Wind was also a factor in Coco Gauff’s afternoon win. The American went on to the quarterfinals with an entertaining 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4) victory over Aryna Sabalenka.
Both players struggled with conditions at Sobeys Stadium, with Sabalenka committing 18 double fouls and Gauff committing 15. Sabalenka made 42 non-face-to-face fouls overall, while Gauff made 32.
Gauff will face Romania’s Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. Halep, the two-time Canadian Open champion, beat Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-2, 7-5 to start the day’s series at Center Court.
U.S. seventh seed Jessica Pegula then came back to beat defending champion Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.
Pegula saved the match to end the third set 5-5, then took the lead due to Giorgi’s sixth double foul of the game. Pegula served love in the final match to advance to the quarterfinals.
This report by the Canadian Press was first published on August 11, 2022.
