By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday March 28, 2021
Bianca Andreescu battled past Amanda Anisimova in a Miami marquee matchup that lived up to the hype.
Photo Source: Getty
Bianca Andreescu and Amanda Anisimova were practice partners before the Miami Open began. But when each took their places in the third round in Miami, they put on their game faces and went toe-to-toe for nearly three hours in an enthralling battle that saw Andreescu go through, 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 6-4.
“Just proving to myself that I can get through these tough matches like I did before in the past,” Andreescu said after her win. “And I did. So I'm super happy about that.”
The heavily anticipated matchup of two of the youngest players inside the ATP’s Top 50 was a breathtaking battle of top flight talents, with Andreescu already a Grand Slam champion and Anisimova a noteworthy success that reached the Roland Garros semifinals in 2019 as a 17-year-old.
Both have had their share of struggles lately, however.
Andreescu missed most of 2020 while recovering from a knee injury, causing doubts to surface about her long-term potential in the sport as she just couldn’t seem to get healthy.
Anisimova lost her father suddenly in the summer of 2019 and then in 2021 missed the Australian Open due to a positive Covid-19 test result. An ankle injury further hampered her progress last month—needless to say, both Andreescu, who made her return at the Australian Open but fell in the second round, and Anisimova, are in the process of building momentum rather than dominating the field.
But both were shining brightly on Sunday as they gave viewers a glimpse of what their rivalry might develop into in the future. Anisimova, with her long limbs and big, easy power. Andreescu with her active imagination and her penchant for mixing power with finesse.
There wasn’t much between the pair on Sunday. If anything it was Andreescu’s ability to back herself in the tightest moments, like she did during her incredible 2019 season and as she continues to do in 2021, despite still working through inhibitions about her fitness and the long-term stability of her body.
After they split two tiebreak sets, It was the Canadian that drew first blood in the third set, breaking for 3-2, and she never looked back, wrapping up her victory in 2:44, without any drama at the close.
Andreescu will face Garbiñe Muguruza in the round of 16 on Monday, and by then we’ll know a lot more about her ability to recover and what she can do against one of the tour's most determined, in-form players. Andreescu needed a off-court medical timeout after the third game of the final set on Sunday, but she appeared to play unhindered when she returned.
In her first meeting with Muguruza, a then 18-year-old Andreescu blitzed the Spaniard 6-0, 6-1 in 52 minutes in the Indian Wells quarterfinals. A few days later she would win her first WTA title, and six months later she became the first player in history to win the US Open on her main draw debut.
But much has changed since. The 20-year-old seems confident that she’ll turn up okay for her second career meeting against the Spaniard. If she can do that it will another big forward in her comeback.
“I'm going to do my best with treatment, best with food, best with sleep, all that stuff,” she said. “I have been here before. I have played tough matches like this. Had to play the next day. So I kind of know what to expect. I have to be on my A game tomorrow because I know Muguruza is very tough to play.”