Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime serves against Jack Draper of Great Britain on Day 3 of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center. Draper won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Aug 31, 2022.Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu earned an impressive 6-2, 6-4 second-round win over 15th-seed Beatriz Haddad Maia on Wednesday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., fired one ace and committed just one double fault to Haddad Maia’s six, as well as 14 unforced errors to the Brazilian’s 30 in the win.
The 22-year-old Canadian also won three of her five break points, while defending all five of Haddad Maia’s chances.
After cruising through the opening set, Andreescu found herself in a 3-2 hole in the second. After tying it up at 3-3 with a backhand winner, Andreescu won two of the next three games to take the lead.
Back-to-back backhand forced errors from Haddad Maia gave Andreescu a 40-30 lead in the final game, then match point to advance to the third round.
Andreescu will next face France’s Caroline Garcia in a rematch of the Bad Homburg Open final on Friday.
Laval, Que., native Leylah Fernandez could not re-create her magic from a year ago as she fell 3-6, 6-7 (3) to Liudmila Samsonova in the second round.
Fernandez, who was a runner-up in the 2021 U.S. Open, had just three aces to Samsonova’s 11 and had six double faults in the match.
After going down 3-1 in the first set, Fernandez won two of the next three games to build some momentum. However, Samsonova won the next two, closing the set behind multiple errors from the 14th seed.
The second set turned into a back and forth affair as Fernandez battled her way to a tiebreaker at 6-6, looking to force a third set.
After two Samsonova errors gave Fernandez a 2-0 lead, the Russian won seven of the next eight points to win the match.
In men’s action, Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime fell 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Britain’s Jack Draper.
Auger-Aliassime, the sixth seed in the tournament, earned 13 aces to Draper’s nine, but was unable to win on any of his three break point opportunities. Draper broke the Canadian on three of 10 chances.
The 22-year-old also had five double faults and 41 unforced errors in the match.
Earlier Wednesday, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Ukraine’s Daria Snigur.
Marino fired 13 aces in the match to Snigur’s one, and won 74 per cent of first-serve points.
Marino took advantage of some spotty play from Snigur, who had 48 unforced errors, including one while facing match point.
The Canadian broke Snigur three times on eight chances, and saved five of the seven break points she faced.
Marino advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, and the first time in over a decade. She advanced to the third round of the 2011 French Open.
Marino will next face China’s Zhang Shuai.
In women’s doubles action, the fifth-seeded pair of Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico made quick work of Peyton Stearns and Ashlyn Krueger with a 6-2, 6-1 first-round win.
Dabrowski and Olmos won 80 per cent of their first-serve points and broke the American duo on five of 11 opportunities.