Bianca Andreescu returned to the courts today for the first time since October of last year and she was pretty good taking down native player Niemeier in two sets 7-6(5) 6-3.
Winning this match in two sets is a huge confidence booster for Bianca Andreescu who last stood on the court in October of last year. She dealt with a lot of injuries in the past year and now, finally healthy, she is back to doing what she is doing best. Niemeier is a very strong clay player posting a 25-7 record last year and besting her in front of her native crowd is quite something.
It wasn't smooth though as Andreescu showed some rust and had some issues in the match but for the most part, she was able to handle it rather well. Niemeier took an opening lead and held it very well for the majority of the first set. Late in the set though Andreescu finally found some rhythm and she was able to battle back. It was settled in a well-contested tiebreak with Andreescu proving better.
It was a huge confidence booster for Andreescu who really needed it. The fruits of that were shown in the 2nd set as the Canadian dominated her opponent pretty well in that part of the match. Niemeier did not serve well and that gave Andreescu a lot of looks that she took. The final score in the 2nd set was 6-3 with Andreescu moving on to the next round.