(Paris) Canadian Bianca Andreescu was expeditious in the second round of the French Open on Thursday. She needed just 69 minutes of play to defeat American Emma Navarro 6-1, 6-4.
The 2019 United States Open champion, Andreescu had never before reached the third round of any of the WTA’s three other major tournaments.
Andreescu, 42nd in the world ranking, hammered 18 winners to win against Navarro, 75th.
In the next round, Andreescu will face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who led 6-3, 1-0 when American Lauren Davis forfeited their second-round duel.
Andreescu struggled in the first round, needing 2 hours and 30 minutes to defeat 18th-seeded Victoria Azarenka in three sets.
The scenario was different this time around. Andreescu was particularly effective in the first set. She broke her rival’s serve in the first game of the match and was never worried afterwards.
Navarro offered better opposition in the second set. She broke Andreescu’s serve in the fifth game, but the Ontarian played her the same trick three games later.
Andreescu then broke Navarro’s serve for the fifth time in the game in the 10th game to end the encounter.
In women’s doubles, Quebecer Leylah Annie Fernandez made it through the first round, while British Columbian Rebecca Marino suffered elimination.
Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend defeated Italian Sara Errani and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-5, 7-6 (3). Fernandez and Townsend are the 10th seeds in the women’s doubles draw.
In the next round, Fernandez and Townsend will cross swords with Estonian Ingrid Neel and Taiwanese Fang-Hsien Wu.
Marino and China’s Lin Zhu lost 7-5, 7-5 to 11th-seeded China’s Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang.
On Friday, Denis Shapovalov of Ontario will play his men’s singles third round match against Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Andreescu will begin their journey in mixed doubles. Dabrowski teams up with American Nathaniel Lammons, while Andreescu plays with Australian Michael Venus.
