Bianca showed up at Flushing Meadows winning the last 17 matches she completed, including 6 at the Rogers Cup, 1 at the French Open, 3 at the Miami Open and 7 at Indian Wells. Many put her among the favorites to win the tournament since she had won 39 of her 43 matches, taking into account those played in the Fed Cup, she played since the beginning of the season. Her last loss in a full match was on March 1, in Acapulco, against the American Sofia Kenin.
Unlike the Rogers Cup, where her draw was particularly hard, he was easier in the Big Apple with the 15th-seed status. Her opponent in the first round was Katie Volynets, the world's No. 413 and 17-year-old American invited by the organizers. Bianca knew her opponent as she had eliminated her in two sets of 6-2, 7-6(7) during her victorious run at Newport Beach in January. It was not a walk in the park for the Rogers Cup's champion, but Bianca finished the job with a score of 6-2, 6-4 after a one-hour, 28-minute duel.
Two days later, Andreescu was up against No. 110-ranked Belgium's Kristen Flipkens. Once again, the meeting was much more difficult than it could have been. Down 0-40 in her first service game of the match, Andreescu managed to level up at 1-all and she then won the opening set with a score of 6-3. Quickly behind 0-2 in the second stint, Bibi broke back quickly and both players were able to hold their services up to 5-all. Down 3-6, * 5-6, Flipkens was up 30-not in her service game, but Bianca won the following four points, including the match point on an inside out forehand passing, to eliminate the Belgium's. and continue her way.
In the third round, the 19-year-old Ontarian faced Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki. The two players had already clashed earlier this season in Auckland, New Zealand, while Wozniacki was third in the world. Andreescu had won in two identical sets of 6-4, which represented her first of seven wins in as many matches this season against top-10 members. However, Wozniacki has had a rough season, struggling to accumulate victories and slipping past No. 16.
Bianca seemed to be heading for an easy win when she was ahead 6-4, *3-0, but the young Canadian didn't help herself. She lowered her level of play in several ways and allowed the Dane to come back from behind. After four consecutive breaks between *3-2 and 4-all, Bianca finally retained her service to close the debate, just like in Auckland, in two identical sets of 6-4.
Bianca's first challenge in the second week was Taylor Townsend. The American, who was only at the 116th spot of the world's hierarchy, had eliminated the fourth favorite of the tournament, the Romanian Simona Halep in the second round. Andreescu and Townsend had clashed four days earlier, on Friday, in doubles and the American pair of Townsend and Whitney Osuigwe had the last word on the Canadian pair of Andreesdu and Sharon Fichman by the score of 6-2, 6-3.
Townsend is recognized as one of the few players who strongly focus on net play, much as Mischa Zverev does on men's side. Andreescu was unaffected by the atypical playing style of the American and she played inspired tennis in the first set, during which she took an early *4-0 lead to finally win 6 to 1, breaking Townsend's service on all three occasions.
However, the American crowd is known to be very disrespectful to the players it doesn't support, remember this match between Milos Raonic and Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open in 2018, and this has seemed to deconcentrate Bianca, who offered the second set to Townsend by the score of 6-4, thanks to a double foul on the set point. However, the Mississauga, Ont. native bounced back in the final round to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 after an hour and 55 minutes of play. Bianca was imperial to counter the net rides of the American, which was only 16 in 40, or 40%, and only 4 in 16 on serve-and-volley.
After a relatively smooth ride so far, the adversity became much stronger for Bianca from the quarter-finals when she had to face Flipkens' countrywoman and 25th seed Elise Mertens, who had lost only 16 games in her first four matches combined. During this match, many believed that Bianca's run would end that evening at which point Belgian was exceptional in the first set, she was able to hit the lines with disconcerting regularity. It must also be said that Bibi was not playing with her usual ardor during this duel, facilitating the task of her opponent. Andreescu started to play her game, as we know her, starting from 3-6, *2-3 and she never looked back, winning 3-6, 6- 2, 6-3. This win was Bianca's 12th consecutive in a match that required a third inning.
Reaching the final four of a Grand Slam tournament is a great achievement and few Canadians have ever achieved it in the history of tennis. The last obstacle between Andreescu and the final was Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
If Bianca came close to losing her previous match, it was even more obvious during this one. Andreescu would have lost if Bencic would have been slightly more opportunistic. The first set was very difficult for the Canadian in her service games, mainly on the second serve, while she won only 6 points out 22 in this situation. Bencic had six break points, against none for Andreescu, in the opening round, including a set point at *4-5, which Bianca saved. The Ontario's native then flew over the tiebreaker, taking the lead * 5-0, to finally win it 7-3.
It can be said that Bianca did pretty well in the opening set to steal it, but she can thank her lucky star for the second set. Bencic was more opportunistic and she quickly took 2-0*, *4-1 and *5-2 leads, Bianca managed to break the service of her opponent during the sixth game. While the second set seemed to be completely lost, Andreescu started a decent comeback like a Grand Slam champion, breaking Bencic's serve four straight times, despite Bencic having a 30-0 lead at *5-4, and seized victory with a score of 7-6 (3), 7-5.
In the grand finale, Bianca Andreescu, who was trying to win her first major title, faced American Serena Williams, winner of 23-Grand-Slam titles, in a rematch of the shortened Rogers Cup final four weeks ago. With a win, Williams would have joined the Australian Margaret Court with a 24th major title, the record in the women's tennis. In a 23,000-people Arthur Ashe Stadium, Andreescu was the underdog, but she was in a similar situation so often this season that she wasn't intimidated at all.
Andreescu managed to break Serena's serve, though one of the best on the circuit, in the opening game of the match to quickly take a 2-0 lead. Andreescu then managed to clear the only broken ball she faced in the first set at *4-3 (30-40), and she broke Serena the following game to win the initial round 6-3. Bibi continued her run in the second set, breaking Willams' serve three times to take a comfortable 6-3, *5-1 lead and serve for the championship. She even got a 40-30 lead, but Serena managed to strike a return winner, despite Andreescu's stunning second serve.
Williams broke Bianca's serve moments later and made the same feat, to love, when Bibi had a second chance to serve for the match at *5-3. Now that the crowd was back into the match, Andreescu had to regain concentration on the following commercial break, and she managed to retain her serve after Serena leveled at 5-all. In the next game, Bianca took the lead *15-40, getting two more championship points. Serena made an untouchable ace, on the first opportunity, but on the second one, Bianca did a perfect return winner and she became the US Open champion!
Bianca Andreescu will break the WTA's top five on Monday, the same ranking that Bouchard reached in 2014, and she will be fourth in the Race to Shenzhen rankings. Andreescu also won a cash prize of US$ 3.85M, or about CA$ 5M.
Andreescu will have to get used to her new notoriety since honors and interview requests will certainly be overwhelming in the coming weeks.
Photo credit: Getty