On 7 September 2019, a 19-year-old from Mississauga walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium and dismantled Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5 to become the first Canadian — male or female — to win a Grand Slam singles title. Bianca Andreescu lifted the US Open trophy with the calm of a veteran and the timing of a prodigy. What no one in that 23,771-seat arena could have predicted was that 2,317 days would pass before she next held a tour-level singles trophy above her head.
The teenager who beat Serena
Andreescu’s 2019 was the kind of breakthrough season tennis rarely produces. She entered the year ranked 152nd in the world. By March she had won Indian Wells as a wildcard, beating Angelique Kerber in the final. By August she had taken the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where Serena retired injured in the second set. By September she had three of the biggest hard-court titles in the sport and a 17-match winning streak against top-10 opponents.
The US Open final itself was a statement. Andreescu broke Williams early in both sets, weathered a 23-time major champion’s late surge from 5-1 down in the second, and closed it out on her own serve. She became the youngest US Open women’s champion since Maria Sharapova in 2006 and the first player born in the 2000s to win a Slam. Inside two months she had risen to a career-high world No 4.
Then the body broke. A torn meniscus in her left knee at the WTA Finals in October 2019 ended her season early. The pandemic erased most of 2020. A bone bruise in her foot wiped out chunks of 2021. A back injury cost her the second half of 2022. Between Flushing Meadows and her next final, Andreescu underwent four separate rehabilitation programmes, changed coaches three times, and slipped as low as 297th in the world rankings after a six-month mental-health break in late 2023.
Breaking the curse in Cleveland
The drought ended this week at the Tennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland, where Andreescu, ranked 84th and playing on a protected entry, defeated Wang Xinyu 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) to claim her fourth career title. The final lasted two hours and 41 minutes. She saved two match points at 4-5 in the deciding set and won the last six points of the tie-break.
“I broke the curse,” Andreescu said in her on-court interview, holding back tears. “There were days I wasn’t sure I’d hold another one of these. To everyone who stayed with me — thank you for not giving up when I almost did.”
The numbers underline how long the wait was. The 2,317-day gap between titles is the longest by any former Grand Slam champion in the Open Era who returned to win again. The previous benchmark belonged to Kim Clijsters, who waited 1,134 days between her 2003 WTA Tour finals title and her 2005 US Open crown. Andreescu also became the first Canadian woman to win multiple WTA singles titles after a Grand Slam victory.
What it means for tennis and for her
Cleveland is a 250-level event, not a major. But the significance reaches further than the trophy cabinet. Andreescu’s ranking will climb back inside the world’s top 50, securing direct entry to the US Open later this month — the tournament where her story began. She will arrive seeded for the first time in three years.
For the women’s tour, her return matters because the 2019 cohort of breakthrough champions has largely vanished. Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open winner, has not reached a Slam quarter-final since. Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have dominated the headlines, but the WTA has long needed Andreescu’s specific brand of variety — the topspin forehand, the drop shot, the willingness to come forward — back at the elite level.
The key markers of her comeback now read:
- Ranking projected to rise from 84 to 47, her highest since June 2022
- First WTA title on hard courts since the 2019 US Open
- Seeded entry secured for the 2026 US Open at Flushing Meadows
- Career win-loss record against top-10 opponents now 12-9
Andreescu turns 26 in June. She is younger than Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina. The teenager who beat Serena is gone, but the player who emerged from six years of operating tables and ranking points is, on the evidence of Cleveland, something more durable. The curse, as she put it, is broken. What she does with the next 2,317 days is the more interesting question.
Ahmad Ali, Sports Editor
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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