Bianca Andreescu continues barren run of form as British duo Dart and Boulter slump to defeat in Cincinnati
WTA
Bianca Andreescu has spent most of her comeback to tennis in good form and has been showing that the 2019 version is still there. But not in the last few tournaments as she lost to lucky loser Elina Avanesyan at the Cincinnati Open.
Avanesyan is better than the lucky loser tag and is ranked in the top 60 in the world and has been a player to watch amongst a new crop of talent in the past 12 months. Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider similarly broke out like her in the clay court season in particular.
But she did lose in qualifying to Harriet Dart. Andreescu though simply couldn't break serve during the tie which was her undoing in a 6-4, 7-5 loss. Avanesyan took a sole break in the first at 4-3 which set her on her way with Andreescu's only real retort being prior at the start of the set which she had two break points but couldn't take them.
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She then lost serve early in the second and had a handful of break point to potential turn the tide and make it 4-4 later on in the set. But spurned them and despite Avanesyan failing to get over the line on Andreescu's serve and promptly being broken, the Canadian couldn't hold and Avanesyan finally sealed the win 7-5.
She broke down in tears after losing in Toronto and doesn't seem to be herself ever since she suffered or seemed to get injured at the Olympic Games. A player who is a real talent who has not been able to reach the heights again a lot of the time due to bad luck. It was also a history making win for Avanesyan who recently switched to represent Armenia. She claimed her first win for the country.
Brit woes as Dart and Boulter slump to defeat
While elsewhere on Day One, there were wins for Magda Linette as Katie Boulter folded.
The Brit went 6-2 up in the first set but slumped to a 6-0 second set loss and then was edged out in the decider. Her compatriot Harriet Dart was also well beaten after going a set up. She sealed the opener 6-4 against Yulia Putintseva. But the Kazakh gave her only one more game in the next two sets in a crushing loss. Anastasia Potapova and Elina Svitolina also won through with the latter coming from a set down to win the next two sets.
Varvara Gracheva will also face Iga Swiatek after dumping out Ajla Tomljanovic. Marta Kostyuk came from a break down to defeat Elise Mertens. Whilst Ashlyn Krueger continued her Cincinnati class as she dumped out Olympic Silver medalist Donna Vekic 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 after defeating Naomi Osaka in qualifying.
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