Andreescu takes grass season opener despite struggles holding serve in Berlin
Canadian standout advances to 2nd round after outlasting Katerina Siniakova
Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu won her first grass-court match of the season with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Katerina Siniakova in first-round action Monday at the Bett1Open.
Andreescu came through in a match where both players had trouble holding serve.
The native of Mississauga, Ont., who turns 22 on Thursday, broke Siniakova seven times on 11 chances, while Siniakova was slightly less opportunistic with six successful breaks on 13 chances.
Andreescu will face another Czech player, fourth seed Karolina Pliskova, in the second round.
Andreescu is playing in the tournament as a warm-up for Wimbledon, which starts June 27 at the All England Club in London. Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, has never progressed past the first round of the grass-court Grand Slam.
WATCH | Andreescu moves on in Berlin after beating Siniakova:
2016 Olympic champ Monica Puig retires
Rio de Janeiro Olympics gold medallist Monica Puig announced her retirement from professional tennis at age 28 via a social media post Monday.
Puig became the first athlete to win gold for Puerto Rico in any sport at an Olympics with her women's singles triumph in 2016. She also was the first woman representing her country to earn an Olympic medal of any colour.
"After a tough 3 year fight with injuries and 4 surgeries, my body had enough," Puig wrote Monday. "This decision isn't an easy one because I would've loved to retire on my own terms, but sometimes life has other plans and we have to open new doors that lead to exciting possibilities."
Puig said she will work for ESPN and will be "exploring consulting roles for young, up and coming tennis players, as well as with programs and academies."
She leaves the tennis tour with a career record of 303-215, one WTA singles title in addition to her Summer Games victory, a career-best ranking of No. 27 and more than $3.5 million US in prize money.
Puig stopped playing in the first set of what would be her final tournament match last month in France against Fiona Ferro. She played in one other official match this season, at the Madrid Open, losing to Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.
She announced in June 2021 that she would need to sit out the Tokyo Olympics and the rest of last season after having surgery on her right shoulder. That was her second operation to repair her rotator cuff and biceps tendon.
Puig also had surgery on her right elbow in December 2019.
With files from The Associated Press
