Photo: camerawork usa
Bianca Andreescu kicked off her fall season at the inaugural Chicago Fall Tennis Classic – a WTA 500 event. As the tournament eighth-seed, the Canadian earned a first-round bye and faced American Shelby Rogers in the second round.
Andreescu has had an up-and-down year but finally pieced together great wins a couple of weeks ago to reach the round of 16 at the US Open. She was hoping to build off of her performance in New York but was stopped in her tracks, losing 6-4, 7-5 to World No. 43 Rogers.
The turning point in the first set came in the action-packed fourth game. On Rogers’ serve, Andreescu played aggressively and managed to go up 40-0 right off the hop. However, the unfazed Rogers started to match Andreescu’s intensity and fended off break point after break point which eventually led to a 20-point game. The Canadian had her chances at the break advantage but couldn’t find the extra gear to get it done.
After failing to capitalize on five break-point chances in the fourth, a flustered Andreescu fired back-to-back double faults in her following service game to go down 0-40 quickly. Rogers made her pay and converted on her second break-point opportunity. The American didn’t give Andreescu a chance to come back in the set and sealed the deal in the 10th game on her lone set point.
In the second set, Rogers started strong and earned an early 3-1 lead over Andreescu. The American was serving brilliantly in the set, keeping 72 per cent of her first serves in play and winning 73 per cent of those points. Andreescu did manage to even the score in the 10th game but was immediately broken back by Rogers in the 11th. Rogers served for the match, made no mistake, and clinched her 25th victory of the season.
The American will face Japanese Mai Hontama in the round of 16. Hontama, the 22-year-old rookie, is playing in her first ever WTA main draw.
