"The match was very tight and it could have gone either way" - Andreescu after victory in San Diego opener

Bianca Andreescu faced an in-form Liudmila Samsonova in round one of the San Diego Open and she proved better surprising many.

Not many expected Andreescu to defeat Samsonova in the first round of the San Diego Open because the Russian has been so good in recent weeks. Still, Andreescu proved better in a very tight match that brought Samsonova only her second loss in twenty matches:

"The match was very tight and it could have gone either way. I felt towards the end I felt I was putting a little bit more pressure that she was and I was a little bit more consistent."

Asked what she was doing since the US Open, Andreescu explained:

"After the US Open I took a few days, maybe a week in Costa Rica, my happy place. I didn't play any tournaments, I've just been training. I just wanted to have a longer pre-season in a way, instead of just playing tournaments. I wanted to get some good training in because this summer was a little bit all over the place, with my back and some other things. So I didn't want to go all the way to Europe and then come back here because the goal is to play Guadalajara and I didn't want to do too much traveling."

Since returning, Andreescu is 17-10 with a final and that's much better than she thought she would do:

I think I'm doing better than I expected. I try not to have any expectations going into this season but it's definitely better than I thought. Taking so much time off, you never know what you're going to do. For me, this is the bigger picture kind of thinking that I'm doing with my coach. So it's not short term, it's more long term. It's way less pressure."