Bianca Andreescu says pressure helps her perform better following Australian Open victory

Bianca Andreescu has returned to the courts after more than a year and she was successful in her opening performance at the 2021 Australian Open against Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Despite not playing for more than a year, the young Canadian entered the draw as the eight-seeded thanks to the frozen rankings system. Although Andreescu's first-round victory was not the easiest one, she advanced to the second round where she will face Su-Wei Hsieh.

"After the match, I sat down with my team a little bit, and I'm like, 'Oh, guys, here we go again, those three-setters,' and they just started laughing because they obviously knew what they were getting themselves into," Andreescu told reporters after the match.

"But those matches are super good for me in my opinion because it really shows that I can scramble when I really need to, or if there's some pressure I can dig my way through it somehow. When my back is against the wall, not only today, but I've noticed throughout my last couple tournaments in 2019, I've been able to pull through with those."

"I remember during my match against Angelique Kerber in the finals, I had that same kind of roller coaster of a match, and I was down 40-Love on my serve," Andreescu said. "It was in the third set. Around the same score, too.

"I was just thinking about that and how calm I was during that match, so I was telling myself, 'Oh, stay calm, stay cool, just put your first serve in' because I think my first serve today was very effective, which I did.

"It also happened against Serena, too. It wasn't the only time I did it, so I kind of have a little bit of a feel of how it is to be in that situation, but I was super, super relieved to get that game because I'm sure things would have been different afterwards."