Photo: Martin Sidorjak
Playing for the first time in her career on Centre Court at Wimbledon in front of tennis legends Billie Jean King and Stefan Edberg, Bianca Andreescu put forth a performance worthy of the occasion against world no. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia even in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat.
The 23-year-old Canadian played a virtually flawless first set, racing out to a 4-1 lead and holding onto her advantage to put herself in a good position to pull off the upset. But Jabeur, the defending Wimbledon finalist, wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She converted her first break point of the match in the fifth game of set two and eventually forced a decisive third frame.
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The final set was a bit of a rollercoaster, especially for Andreescu. She led 3-1 after breaking serve for the second time in the contest, but Jabeur broke right back to immediately get back on serve then the rain came at what turned out to be an inconvenient time for Andreescu. Jabeur returned to the court after the delay with the roof closed and seemed to be a different player. Suddenly, her serve was a weapon in indoor conditions, and she saved both break points she faced in the first game after the resumption. In the ninth game, Andreescu played her worst of the match and unfortunately broke herself which then allowed Jabeur to serve out the match to book her place in the second week at the All-England Club for the second year in a row.
There are plenty of positives for Andreescu to take from the match despite the loss. She went toe-to-toe with one of the grass-court players in the world who plays a similar style to hers and was able to showcase her full array of shots. It’s an important confidence boost heading into her favourite portion of the tennis calendar, the North American summer hard court season beginning at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal next month.
