It was a day of momentum swings for the Canadians in Madrid, but it always ended in their favour.
A few hours after Leylah Annie Fernandez advanced with a three-set win, Bianca Andreescu joined her in the second round of the Madrid Open after beating Alison Riske in a three-setter of her own.
The match was a bit of a roller coaster, with Andreescu dropping the second set in a hurry after winning the first, but in the end the Canadian managed to dig deep as she often does and pulled out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 victory.
27 winners helped Andreescu get the job done, although she also committed 19 unforced errors. The Canadian overpowered her opponent, who only managed 11 winners of her own. She also returned well, converting six break points and winning 54 percent of Riske’s second serve points.
Andreescu started applying pressure to the Riske serve early in the opening set and was rewarded with a quick break, but the lead was short-lived as the American broke back to love in the following game.
The Canadian kept coming, pushing Riske every time she stepped up to the line. Andreescu was rewarded with another break to move ahead 4-3 and this time she hung on to take the opening set, ripping 14 winners in the opening set to her opponent’s two.
Riske completely flipped the script early in the second set, taking advantage of some sloppy play from Andreescu to grab two breaks and race out to a 5-0 lead. She would give one of the breaks back, but was able to force a decider.
The third set was identical to the second but with the roles reversed, as Andreescu re-found her range and began dominating the play once again. It was one way traffic as the Canadian crushed every return in sight, needing only 24 minutes to break serve three times and drop a bagel in the third set.
Next on the schedule for Andreescu will be another American, sixth seed Danielle Collins.