Bianca Andreescu is a Canadian tennis player who surprised the world by entering the finals of the Indian Wells at the age of 18.
The Canadian teenager started the year as world No. 152. But her impressive run in California after getting a wildcard entry helped her book a place in the finals. She is set to break through the top 40 in the WTA leaderboards on Monday.
But who is this teenager who is shaking the tennis world through her breakthrough performance at the Indian Wells? Let's take a look at her short journey to rise to the top within a quick period of time.
Juniors
Bianca was born in the year 2000 in the city of Ontario. Andreescu turned pro after lifting two junior grand slam doubles titles at the Australian Open and French Open in 2017.
Later that year, she made her senior grand slam main draw debut at Wimbledon. The Canadian lost in the first round to Kristina Kucova after cruising through the qualifying rounds.
First, win on WTA tour
Bianca's first win on the WTA circuit came in August 2017 at the Citi Open where she defeated Camila Giorgi after getting a wildcard entry into the tournament. She then defeated Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-3 marking her first win over a Top 20 player. She thus became the first player born in the 2000s to defeat a Top 20 player.
Bianca was unable to make to a single WTA event in 2018 and so her focus shifted to ITF challenger tour. She was certainly one of the main contenders to win a title at ITF challenger circuit. The teenager played four ITF finals, winning two of them.
The breakthrough year
The year 2019 certainly seems to be the breakthrough year for Andreescu. She has made some impressive runs at the recent tournaments thus overtaking Eugenie Bouchard as Canada's No. 1 ranked tennis player.
She began the 2019 season by reaching the finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland. She was better off against Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams and Su-Wei Hsieh in consecutive matches in Auckland to reach the finals. Julia Goerges came out too strong for the young star. But Bianca continued to improve as a player, coming through the qualifying rounds and then reaching the second round at the Australian Open.
After losing in Melbourne, she lifted the Newport beach- a 125k series event beating compatriot Bouchard in the finals. She went till the last four of them in the Mexican Open, losing to Sofia Kenin in the semifinals.
Indian Wells
Bianca's run at the Indian Wells is her best performance till date. She opened with a victory against Irina-Camelia Begu in three sets. She again came through the tough tests against Dominika Cibulkova and Wiang Qiang to reach the quarterfinals. Andreescu came out with a stunning victory over Garbine Muguruza to reach the last four. The two-time grand slam champion managed to win only one game in the two set defeat against Bianca. Elina Svitolina was a strong player against her but her determination and power got past the world No. 6 to reach the finals.
Bianca is one of the strong contenders to reach the last stages of a major event and the Canadian is just improving day by day. She will certainly be one of the players' to watch out for in the coming tournaments.
Video: Bianca Andreescu | Top 5 Shots | 2019 BNP Paribas Open
