The Rome Masters Should Feature A Canadian Epic In The First Round

With the Women's Tennis Association 2022 tour ticking into the month of May, the Rome Masters is next up on the cards and this year's competition could be quite an epic affair as some big, and talented, names have been drawn against each other in the First Round of the tournament.

In many ways, the hot First Round clash that will create huge amounts of worldwide media interest will be between Canadian-born talents: Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu.

There are some striking similarities between the rise of both players during their young careers so far. 19-year-old Toronto-born Raducanu made her WTA debut in June 2021, and quickly shot to fame as a wildcard entry at Wimbledon, before going on to become the first singles qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title, beating Leylah Fernandez in the final of the US Open. In April 2022 she rose to a career-high ranking of No.11, and is currently the British No.1.

Born in Mississauga, Ontario, 21-year-old Andreescu took a different path having moved to Romania for two and a half years as a six year old. Her family eventually moved back to her birth home and she made her own debut in 2017. Although hampered by injury and not playing any WTA Tour level matches during 2018, her career high ranking is No.4 in the world and that was largely on the back of her form in 2019 where she won both the US Open and the Canadian Open - defeating powerhouse Serena Williams in each tournament to take the final. She is also lauded for being the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first to win the Canadian Open in 50 years. Further, she became the first to win a Grand Slam singles title as a teenager since the great Maria Sharapova back in 2006.

2019, also saw further success for Andreescu as she opened the year by becoming the runner up of the Auckland Open - the first event of the season - and she lifted her first Premier Mandatory tournament, the Indian Wells Open.

With her style having been described as 'fun to watch' by many commentators, she will no doubt feature highly in Legal Sports Betting For Canadians for those who like a flutter.

Fun or not, the Canadian sportsbooks have Bianca as favorite to progress following her clash with Emma Raducanu at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia as they face each other for the first time in their careers.

Bianca Vanessa Andreescu is the pick to win this match at 1.54 Emma Raducanu comes in at -> 2.55 I’m surprised the odds are that close, if I am honest, as Emma seems to pick up injury after injury, whereas Bianca is bang on form.

Bianca received very high praise going her way from tennis great and serial Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova, who commented.

"Everyone knows how to bang the ball; it's when you bring something extra to the table that it makes all the difference, and Andreescu brings a lot of extra to the table. Think of the variety of Martina Hingis, but with more power."

It seems the biggest challenge she will face in having further continued success on the court during her career will simply be her propensity for missing tournaments through injury, as she has now dropped down the world rankings and sits as No.121 in the world. Even the start to the 2022 season saw her miss another three months and some major tournaments, so although her ranking is disappointing, it's not really surprising at this point.

She undoubtedly has the talent, and drive, to really improve that ranking in the years still to come though and a good run in the upcoming Rome Masters would be the perfect tonic for her frustrations in the last 24 months.

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Tennis News Bianca Andreescu

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