Lamens halts Andreescu comeback in first-round Rouen thriller
Suzan Lamens ended Bianca Andreescu's latest comeback at the first hurdle, edging the former US Open champion 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(2) in a 2-hour, 34-minute thriller in the first round of the Open Capfinances Rouen Métropole.
Rouen: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Andreescu was playing her first match since reaching the Tokyo quarterfinals last October. The Canadian's latest setback in a career thus far marred by injuries and illness was an emergency appendectomy, which she revealed at the start of February, and her ranking has fallen to No. 130 this week. This is the second season in a row which Andreescu has only started in the clay swing; previously, she was sidelined between August 2023 and May 2024 due to a back injury.
It didn't take long for Andreescu to deliver one of the trademark rollercoaster three-setters with which she captivated audiences during her 2019 breakthrough. Though the 24-year-old's rust showed in an error-strewn first set, once she got a foothold in the contest by breaking Lamens at the start of the second, it was a tightly contested nail-biter right to the end.
Andreescu's variety was on full display: knifing slices and high topspin balls broke up the rhythm of longer exchanges, and she threw every shot in the book at Lamens with frequent success. One of the best points of the match was also key to the second set: Andreescu ended an absorbing 20-stroke exchange with a superb forehand winner down the line to break for 5-4. A game later, she converted her second set point by drawing an error from Lamens with a sky-high topspin shot.
However, the No. 69-ranked Dutchwoman, who captured her first Hologic WTA Tour title last autumn in Osaka, was up to the task of hanging with Andreescu. Lamens' signature weapon is her heavy forehand, and it was the bedrock of her game through a third set in which neither player was broken. Her remarkable defense also foiled Andreescu on a number of occasions -- in the fourth game of the decider, she withstood a barrage of variety before coming up with a forehand pass at full stretch.
At 5-4 in the third set, Lamens held her first two match points on the Andreescu serve, only for the former No. 5 to save both in wild fashion: a fierce forehand winner, then a net cord that went her way. But Lamens held her nerve to dominate the ensuing tiebreak, closing it out with consecutive unreturned serves.
Watch full highlights of the match below.
