The Canadian retired with a right ankle injury after falling behind 6-3, 4-0 against top-ranked Ash Barty of Australia in the final of the Miami Open on Saturday.
The eighth-seeded Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., tumbled to the court in the third game of the second set and struggled with her movement after the fall. She was wearing tape on the right ankle for the entire final of the WTA 1000 event — one level below a Grand Slam.
Andreescu called a medical timeout to receive treatment from the trainer after Barty finished the game with a break to go up 3-0.
She returned for one more game, but wasn’t moving well. Afterward, she put her hand to her face as she tried to hold back tears before going to the net to greet Barty and end the match.
The 20-year-old Andreescu returned from a 16-month layoff in February at the Australian Open, losing in the second round of the Grand Slam. She suffered a knee injury late in 2019 and opted not to try to make a comeback earlier in the pandemic in 2020.
The 20-year-old Canadian followed up her first tournament back by reaching the semifinals of an event in Melbourne for players eliminated early from the Australian Open, but a leg injury suffered there kept her out until Miami.
Andreescu will rise three spots to No. 6 in the world rankings next week.
After winning four three-set matches in a row to reach the final, Andreescu struggled to find any rhythm against Barty in their first career meeting.
Andreescu has exited early in both appearances in Miami with injuries — her only two losses in North America since the start of 2015.
Barty, the 2019 French Open champ, won her 10th career title and earned US$300,110 of the $3.26-million total purse. Andreescu pocketed $165,000.
Barty overpowered Andreescu early to jump in front 3-0 before the Canadian found some rhythm and broke back to cut the deficit to 3-2.
But on Andreescu’s next service game, the Australian responded. Two winners after Andreescu fought off two break points put Barty up 4-2 for the decisive break. The world No. 1 then won every point on the ensuing serve game to take charge of the first set.
Andreescu is scheduled to take most of April off. Before the match, her agent, Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy, said Andreescu is scheduled to return for WTA 1000 clay-court events in Madrid (April 29-May 8) and Rome (May 10-16) before playing in the French Open (May 23-June 5).
The tennis gods just will not give Bianca Andreescu a break when it comes to injury will they?.
I will admit I did not know what to expect from her this tournament, in fact didn't expect much at all. Even though she did well in Australia she did have a leg issue in the semi final.
But in the end she surprised everyone except herself. Her amazing self belief is just one of the reasons she draws you in as a fan of the sport.
The more difficult the opponent the better she plays. It's honestly quite something to witness even on tv.
There were so many fantastic matches this tournament, the WTA for once not being overshadowed by the ATP became the real highlight throughout.
But Andreescu's matches were the ones everyone seemed to be talking about the next day. She made Miami even more enjoyable than it promised to be with the packed top field.
You tuned in just to see how she would do each round. And she just kept on delivering.
In some grueling physical contests, so I suppose the fact that her body give out a bit at the vey end wasn't as big of a shock.
Anyone would after over 12 hours on court. But my heart still broke for her. What she did this week was nothing short of extraordinary and she should be extremely proud.
It looks like the injury is not too serious since she was able to move. But I'm glad she stopped when she did.
Rest up and get well Bianca.
And keep your head up, Tennis is a better sport with you in it.
I cannot wait to see your drive, passion and grit shine on court again.
Congrats on an amazing week. See on on the clay at the end of April.
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