Canada’s Andreescu cruises into second round of Libema Open with win over Garland

Bianca Andreescu knows a significant part of her job takes place away from the tennis court, in moments she may not even have a racket in her hand. Andreescu returns a shot to Italy's Jasmine Paolini during a first-round match of the U.S. Open tennis championships, in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Frank Franklin II

Bianca Andreescu had a winning start to her grass-court tennis season with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Taiwan’s Joanna Garland in women’s first-round action at the Libema Open.

Andreescu didn’t face a break point while converting four of eight break opportunities to wrap up the match in just 74 minutes.

The 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., is slated to face seventh seed Lulu Sun of New Zealand on Wednesday at the ATP/WTA 250 event in s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion and a former world No. 4, entered the Libema Open at No. 118 and is looking for a strong start on grass after failing to qualify for the clay-court French Open.

Carson Branstine, who was born in California but represents Canada through her mother, was scheduled for action later Tuesday against top seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.

Branstine and Andreescu are teamed up in the women’s doubles draw and are set to play a quarterfinal Wednesday against second seeds Fanny Stollar of Hungary and Irina Khromacheva of Russia. Branstine and Andreescu joined up to win the girls’ doubles title at the 2017 Australian Open.

Also in s’Hertogenbosch, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo and partner Ugo Humbert of France fell 6-3, 6-4 to Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands in first-round men’s doubles action.

Diallo is still alive in singles competition and is slated to face sixth seed Jordan Thompson of Australia in second-round action Wednesday.

Meanwhile in Stuttgart, Germany, fifth seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was upset 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 by France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the first round of the ATP 250 Boss Open.

Rinderknech converted all three break-point chances he had in a dominant third set and levelled his career record against Shapovalov to 2-2.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.