Andreescu’s not quite back yet

There was the dizzy ’n’ double-vision match. She won that.

There was the tough opponent who had never lost to her before. She won that.

Then, on Thursday night, there was the teen from China with less than a year on the big girls’ tennis circuit under her long-waisted, wasp-waisted belt. And Bianca Andreescu was expected to win that. She did not.

In front of a partisan, yearning Centre Court crowd that included Toronto Blue Jays infielders Bo Bichette and Santiago Espinal, Olympic multi-medallist sprinter Andre De Grasse and a little dog called Coco, Andreescu fell 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 in a couple of ticks under three hours, which made it almost eight hours on the competitive court, her home court really, for Andreescu, far and away longer than any other women either still in or already out of the National Bank Open.

There was a wave goodbye to the audience, her hands gathered to her heart and a smile on her face, at the end of it. Because it actually was a good week for the young woman from Mississauga who took a brace of matches before the end of an eight-match winning streak, stretching back to her 2019 championship here over the back-spasming Serena Williams. Andreescu memorably beat Williams again, and with no fudging, at the U.S. Open a month later.

It was Bibi’s breakout year. And she has been trying mightily, through all manner of setbacks and injuries and long, long stretches of no tennis at all, and of course a global pandemic, to get back to that sweet spot, mentally and competitively.

From that perspective, this tournament was a significant steppingstone for the 22-year-old. For the first time in a long time Andreescu of the here and now looked like Andreescu circa 2019. She played with the same abandon, the same nerviness, even when vertigo-woozy in the Tuesday opener against Daria Kasatkina and when challenged hard on Wednesday by Alizé Cornet, having to do her Biancastyle three-set thing again.

The top of the draw had opened wildly with losses earlier in the day by world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Camila Giorgi, a beckoning gap for Andreescu to charge through.

But, on this evening, it was another 19-year-old, as Andreescu herself had been in her roman candle season, who prevailed, messing up the whole script: Qinwen Zheng, ranked 51st — actually, two spots ahead of the Canadian — and China’s No. 2 female tennis player, a who-dat teenager, frankly, who had already knocked out another Canadian, Rebecca Marino, earlier in the week and who had been the beneficiary of Ons Jabeur’s stomach ailment for a walkover.

In a way, it was like looking at recent history through a mirror. Andreescu was once that 19-yearold ingenue, all the way to the winner’s circle. “I remember when I was her age — not that long ago. I remember just being super fearless. Obviously the players don’t know you that well, as well, and you can go out there and play fearless, no pressure.

“That’s what she’s doing. And, honestly, I think she can win the tournament.”

Zheng’s poise — and the fearlessness that Andreescu mentioned, her refusal to crumple under pressure — did not sit particularly well with some in the crowd. And they were disgracefully overt about it, cheering Zheng’s double faults, yammering between her serves such that the poor girl on more than one occasion had to stop her ball toss and start over. And still she was sweetly gracious about everything afterward: “The crowd here is very excited. I’m not that used to it still but it’s good they gave the players extra energy. Thanks for everybody here. It doesn’t matter if you support me or no. Thanks a lot.”

Zheng was to meet Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals Friday nigh in this very charmed week for her.

We’re still a bit hazy how the teen pulled it off with a horrible 48 per cent first serve and seven double faults. But she was 6-for-11 on break points, had eight aces, showed a wicked inside-out backhand, and played the big points larger than her opponent.

“I wouldn’t say I was on my ‘A’ game. But I gave my best with what I had today,’’ Andreescu told reporters. “In the third set she was just more clutch on the more important points.”

She gave a from-the-heart shoutout to the fans, who really were the wind beneath her wings all week in Toronto.

“It was so awesome. I really wish I won for you guys. Honestly, without you, I don’t think I would have gotten past the first round. Just the way I was feeling.” She had a sore back from last week’s tour stop in San Jose and played through it, going for an MRI only afterward.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to come back,

I wouldn’t say I was on my ‘A’ game. But I gave my best with what I had today. In the third set, she was just more clutch on the more important points.

BIANCA ANDREESCU CANADIAN TENNIS PLAYER

honestly, that’s all I’m thinking about right now. Two more years!”

Perhaps, for Andreescu, there was the inside-out pressure of being the favoured player deep into what has clearly been an emotional week for her, returning to these playing grounds for the first time since 2019. And, if more grounded in her soul, in her mind, than she was a year ago, when Andreescu simply bugged out of the tennis universe for six months — she went off to be a normal person, girl-without-aracket travelling the world, wrapping herself in meditation and wellness security blankets — she is maybe not quite at the level again to which she is striving.

But she’s getting there. Andreescu started out the match better than fine, with an immediate break and a signature “Come on!” But the set slipped out of her grasp because Zheng, for someone young and inexperienced, didn’t tremble as the players broke each other back and forth, Zheng the last one standing in that opening frame with the Game 12 break at 7-5.

Nobody broke anybody until the 11th game of the second set, with Andreescu going up 6-5, then serving it out 7-5.

But it looked like she just ran out of gas in the decider, her serve coming under intense pressure by Zheng. She was broken twice, including at match point.

Not broken in spirit, though. That much was obvious as Andreescu packed up her bag, slung it over her shoulder and waved goodbye to the crowd.

It felt more like hello.