Former US Open champ Andreescu beats red-hot Samsonova in San Diego opener

Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu scored a three-set win over Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, one of the hottest players on the WTA Tour, to advance to the second round of the WTA San Diego Open on Monday night.

Samsonova came into the tournament, winning three of her last four tournaments and 18 of her last 19 matches. But the Russian, ranked No 23 in the world, was unable to pierce through Andreescu’s game on Monday as she went down 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-2 in two hours and 38 minutes.

Andreescu, now ranked No 57 in the world after missing all of 2020 due to injuries, will play the winner of the battle between 18-year-olds – Coco Gauff, the No 6 seed, and Robin Montgomery, a qualifier and former US Open junior champion.

San Diego is only the 11th tournament of the season for the Canadian, after she took a break for six months till early April to focus on herself after a difficult couple of years following her breakthrough 2019 season.

San Diego WTA 500, first-round matches

• Danielle Collins beat Caroline Garcia (7): 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Coco Vandeweghe (WC) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-1, 1-6, 6-4
• Martina Trevisan beat Camila Osorio (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Louisa Chirico (Q) beat Alison Riske-Amritraj: 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5)
• Madison Keys beat Ellen Perez (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Robin Montgomery vs. Coco Gauff
• Elena Rybakina vs. Garbine Muguruza
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Jil Teichmann vs. Sloane Stephens
• Karolina Pliskova vs. Caroline Dolehide
• Maria Sakkari vs. Donna Vekic

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