Andreescu’s struggles continue with loss to Rogers in Chicago

Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu was defeated in the second round of the WTA Chicago Fall Tennis Classic on Wednesday by American Shelby Rogers, who is fast cementing her reputation as a giant-killer.

Rogers, ranked 43rd in the world, defeated Andreescu 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 53 minutes to score her sixth top 20 win of the season (and 19th of her career). The American had also upset world No 1 Ash Barty in the third round of the US Open.

Andreescu, playing her 11th tournament of the season after missing all of 2020 due to injuries, hit 27 winners to Rogers’ 14 but also piled up 35 unforced errors to the her opponent’s 16.

After starting her comeback by reaching the semi-finals of Phillip Island Trophy in Melbourne, the final in Miami and the quarter-finals in Strasbourg, Andreescu has struggled to string back-to-back wins in recent weeks. She has now won only five matches in her past eight events (three of them coming at the US Open) dating back to the French Open.

For her efforts, Rogers advances to a round-of-16 clash against Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama. The 200th-ranked Hontama advanced when 11th seed Anett Kontaveit, last week’s champion in Ostrava, withdrew due to a left thigh injury.

Azarenka wins to set-up Muguruza rematch

In other matches, former world No1 Victoria Azarenka needed three sets to beat 19-year-old wildcard Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to a showdown against fellow two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No 1 Garbiñe Muguruza.

The pair have met five times before with the Spaniard leading their head-to-head 3-2, which includes her third-round win over Azarenka at the recent US Open.

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Olympic medalists advance in San Diego

It was a good day for the Olympic medalists in San Diego with all three of them winning on Wednesday. Gold medalist Belinda Bencic came from a set down to beat qualifier Maddison Inglis 5-7, 6-1, 6-0; silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova knocked out fourth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2; and bronze medalist Elina Svitolina, the top seed in Chicago, scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Amanda Anisimova.

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Fifth seed Elena Rybankina, ninth seed Jessica Pegula,12th seed Veronika Kudermetova, 16th seed Jil Tecihman, Elena Gabriela Ruse, and Tereza Martincova also won to reach the round of 16.