Bianca Andreescu of Canada reacts after match point against Greet Minnen of Belgium (not pictured) on day six of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu continues to roll along at the U.S. Open.
The sixth-seeded Andreescu defeated Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-2 in one hour, seven minutes Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the women’s singles draw. Andreescu converted four-of-seven break opportunities to improve to 10-0 at the Grand Slam following her 2019 title.
By comparison, Minnen was 0-for-4 when she had the Canadian in break situations.
Seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., takes on South African Lloyd Harris on Saturday night in a third-round contest in the men’s singles draw.
Andreescu, of Mississauga, Ont., dominated the opening set, which lasted only 23 minutes. She won 93 per cent of points on her first serve and 67 per cent on her second – Minnen was 50 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.
The Canadian also had the only two aces of the opening set and was 2-of-3 on break points.
Andreescu didn’t skip a beat in the second, registering two service breaks en route to taking a commanding 4-0 lead. Even more impressive was in the second game, she rallied from 0-40 to hold serve and go up 2-0.
Minnen finally held serve in the fifth game to make it 4-1 but Andreescu also held to make it 5-1. After narrowly missing a fifth service break in the seventh game, Andreescu served the match out to advance.
Andreescu was playing on the same Louis Armstrong Stadium court that Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime registered his five-set win over Spains Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday.
Minnen’s loss was actually her second to a Canadian in the tournament. She lost in three sets to Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino in the final round of qualifying but became a lost-minute entrant after Latvian Jelena Ostapenko withdrew before the start of the tournament Monday.
Andreescu registered 21 winners and only 11 unforced errors in the match, becoming the second Canadian to reach the fourth round of the women’s draw. On Friday night, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., upset two-time U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka in three sets.