Bianca Andreescu drops opening match of Chicago Fall Tennis Classic
Canadian, ranked 20th, falls in straight sets to 43rd-ranked American Shelby Rogers
Canadian Bianca Andreescu made an early exit at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic on Wednesday.
The Mississauga, Ont., native, ranked 20th, fell to 43rd-ranked American Shelby Rogers 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the hard-court tournament that was added to the WTA schedule after the tour swing in Asia was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Andreescu had previously received a first-round bye as the eighth seed.
She's scheduled to play at next week's Indian Wells tournament, where she's the defending champion after taking the 2019 crown. The California competition was cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020, and pushed back from its normal March dates in 2021.
WATCH | Andreescu falls to Rogers in Chicago:
Rogers advances to unseeded Mai Hontama, who advanced with a walkover against 11th seed Anett Kontaveit.
While Andreescu managed to break Rogers once, she was broken three times over two sets — ultimately the difference-maker in her loss.
Meanwhile, Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic overcame 10 double-faults and some first-set frustration to grab 12 of the last 13 games against qualifier Maddison Inglis to reach the third round.
The third-seeded Bencic got past the 130th-ranked Inglis 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
Bencic next faces Tereza Martincova, who eliminated No. 13 seed and French Open semifinalist Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 7-5.
In other results Wednesday, No. 1 seed Elina Svitolina beat Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-3, and No. 5 Elena Rybakina defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-4. Seeded winners also included No. 9 Jessica Pegula, No. 12 Veronika Kudermetova and No. 16 Jil Teichmann.
With files from The Associated Press
