Bianca Andreescu has had a dream season with four titles in Newport Beach, Indian Wells, Toronto and New York, at the US Open. She moved from No. 152 in the world, when she defeated Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in Auckland, to No. 5 two days after her triumph in the Big Apple. It seems unbelievable when you know that Bianca played only one match, at the French Open, from his retirement against Anett Kontaveit on March 25th to the clash of Canadians against her countrywoman Eugenie Bouchard in Toronto on August 6th. One can imagine how many points she could have accumulated without her shoulder issues that forced her to miss Wimbledon and retire after her first-round match in Paris. She has also not played in Madrid, Dubai, Rome, Cincinnati and Wuhan, all Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 events.
The 19-year-old Mississauga native has broken several records this season and we can add a new one today. In the most recent edition of the WTA rankings, Andreescu is now in No. 4, taking advantage of the fact that Ukraine's Elina Svitolina lost her 1,500 points won at the WTA Finals last year. This fourth place represents a new Canadian record, overtaking Eugenie Bouchard who had reached No. 5 in 2014. The Montrealer has withdrawn from some tournaments during the last weeks and she didn't defend her points acquired in Luxembourg last week (she had reached the semi-finals in 2018), which means she slipped to No. 220.
This represents not only a Canadian record in singles but doubles. Besides Eugenie Bouchard, Jill Hetherington was 6th in doubles in 1989 and Carling Bassett-Seguso was 8th in singles in 1985. Gabriela Dabrowski is currently No. 8 in doubles but was 7th in March 2018. However, this isn't a Canadian record if we combine men and women. Daniel Nestor was No. 1 in doubles in 2002, while Milos Raonic was third in singles in 2016.
WTA Finals preview
The WTA season officially ended on Sunday with the triumphs of Belinda Bencic in Moscow and Jelena Ostapenko in Luxembourg. The eight players who will play in the WTA Finals are, unless a last-minute retirement, now known. Previously played in Singapore, this eight-day tournament featuring the best players in the world will be held in Shenzhen, China, from October 27 to November 3.
Although Bianca Andreescu is fourth in the world, she will be the fifth seed in the Finals as she is fifth in the race rankings, just 20 points behind Simona Halep. She will be the third seed in her group that will be known by a draw later this week. The only player that Bianca is sure to don't face in the round-robin is Petra Kvitova, who will be the third seed of the other group. She will face Ashleigh Barty or Karolina Pliskova, Naomi Osaka or Simona Halep and Belinda Bencic or Elina Svitolina in the round-robin. She will have to finish in the top two positions of her group to reach the semi-finals.
Does Andreescu have chances to win the WTA Finals? Absolutely! Between her loss to Sofia Kenin in Acapulco on March 1 and Naomi Osaka on October 4 in Beijing, Bianca won every 27 matches she had completed, including 13 in three sets. Also, before this duel against Osaka, she had the last word in her first eight career games against members of the top 10.
Andreescu has won games against Karolina Pliskova in Toronto, Belinda Bencic in New York and Elina Svitolina in Indian Wells earlier this season, but she has never faced Ashleigh Barty, Simona Halep or Petra Kvitova. Also, in the match she lost to Osaka in China, Bianca had several opportunities to win it, but she finally lost in three sets. Furthermore, the four matches that Bianca has lost this season, if we forget the retirement in Miami, have all been in three sets, even the two matches against Julia Goerges and Anastasija Sevastova early in the season while Bianca was still relatively unknown.
In conclusion, Bianca Andreescu's season has been exceptional and hopefully, it will end in style at the WTA Finals.
Feature photo: WTA