Bianca Andreescu had high hopes ahead of the 2023 Canadian Open in Montreal, but she had already lost in the first round to Camila Giorgi.
Having a WTA 1000 tournament in your home country is certainly a big motivation to do well for players, but not many of them have a chance to playing such an important tournament at home. Andreescu has that chance, but this year, she couldn't use it at the 2023 Canadian Open in Montreal.
In the first round, two former champions clashed. The Canadian won in 2019 after Serena Williams retired in the final, while Giorgi triumphed two years later, beating Karolina Pliskova in the final 6-3, 7-5.
But now, only one could make it past the first round, and ahead of the tournament, Andreescu was determined to make it past the Italian. She said that she doesn't like her current ranking, and points that she could earn in Montreal were certainly a motivating factor.
Yet, the Canadian was far from her best level against Giorgi, who had to go through the qualifying. In the opening set, Andreescu had five break points, but they all remained unused, while the Italian needed only three chances to break her opponent once, and eventually win the first set 6-3.
After losing the first set, which she may have felt she could have won, Andreescu started terribly in the second part of the match. Her opponent broke her serve twice, and very soon the Canadian found herself 0-4 down.
Despite saving three match points in the final games of the match, Andreescu wasn't able to turn it around, as Giorgi won 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second-round meeting with the seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic. On the other hand, Andreescu will now want to focus on the Cincinnati Masters and the subsequent US Open, where she won in 2019.