Photo : Mauricio Paiz/Tennis Canada
It was a good news, bad news kind of day for the two Canadians in singles action at the Miami Open on Sunday.
The good news is that Bianca Andreescu’s resurgence continues as she advanced to the fourth round of the WTA 1000 tournament for the third time in her career thanks to a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory over American Sofia Kenin.
It was an efficient win for the 22-year-old on a hot and humid day in Miami. She broke in the third game of the first set and proceeded to lose just five points on her own serve in the opening frame and found herself with the early advantage. She was clean and clinical in every facet of her game and there wasn’t much Kenin could do to counter her in-form opponent.
That same trend continued into set two as Andreescu jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead with a double break and seemed well on her way to a one-sided triumph, but Kenin made her work for it. She got one of the breaks back and pushed the Canadian in each of her remaining service games. Andreescu steadied herself when it mattered and continued to push Kenin off the baseline with the power and precision of her groundstrokes. Her serve also allowed her to come out on top in a few close games that proved to be the difference. This is her fourth win over Kenin in their five-head-to-head matches.
Andreescu, who was a finalist at the Miami Open in 2021, has now beaten two former Grand Slam champions, Kenin and Emma Raducanu as well as a Top 10 player, Maria Sakkari, to reach the Round of 16. She will next face no. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Tuesday. Alexandrova knocked out ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic in the third round. The Swiss beat Leylah Annie Fernandez to get to that stage of the event.
Shapovalov Unable to Overcome Fritz
On the bad news front, Denis Shapovalov, seeded no. 24 in the Miami ATP Masters 1000 draw, was eliminated in the third round on Sunday after falling 6-4, 6-4 to ninth-seeded American Taylor Fritz.
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The 23-year-old Canadian was broken once in both sets and that’s all Fritz needed to secure a comfortable win since he didn’t have to face a single break point on his own serve throughout the match.
The majority of the points were over quickly which plays right into the American’s strengths and it also meant that Shapovalov couldn’t find any rhythm to impose his best game on his opponent. He tried to hit his way into the match, but Fritz was just too solid and didn’t give him any openings.
Shapovalov will now shift his focus to the European clay court portion of the tennis calendar during which he hopes to turn his 2023 season around. Meanwhile, Félix Auger-Aliassime will play his third round match on Monday in Miami against Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
