Canada's Bianca Andreescu pulled off a major upset in the WTA washington 2017 draw (Citi Open). The Canadian teenager is among a wave of baby-faced assassins on the women's tour at the moment. There are numerous players below the age of 20 on the tour that are starting to crowd into the top 200. On Thursday, Andreescu, who is barely 17 years old, pulled off a large upset in eliminating Kristina Mladenovic from the Washington draw.
Mladenovic was a high seed
Mladenovic was the No. 2 seed in the Washington event and projected to make the final. She has been one of the toughest players on tour this season with form that saw her make the Roland Garros quarterfinals earlier this year.
The French player has yet to crack the top ten on tour and to lose in Washington will be a setback for that goal.
For Andreescu, everything has gone right in the last day and a half. Not only is she winning her matches in tour-level events, but the Canadian gained from Maria Sharapova's withdrawal from the 2017 Rogers Cup. Sharapova had received a wild card for entry into the upcoming tournament. In withdrawing from Stanford, Sharapova announced that she would also not be able to play in Toronto. It was Andreescu that received the wild card with a preference for her due to her Canadian national identity.
The World No. 167 has an enormous victory in knocking out Mladenovic. The win follows up a first-round victory over Camila Giorgi of Italy.
With the two victories in the Washington draw, Andreescu should be ranked in the top 150 on Monday at least. Since she is still alive in the tournament, there is a chance that she could do even further damage. Her next opponent is Andrea Petkovic, a player that knocked out Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday. Petkovic could probably be deemed more talented player than Mladenovic, however, the German has not been at her very best this season.
The quarterfinal in Washington is, in fact, a battle of players ranked outside of the top 100. The survivor of the contest will be into the semifinals that will be played this weekend.
Halep remains alive in Washington draw
Simona Halep now looms larger than before in the Washington draw. The Romanian was two points away from taking over the No.
1 ranking back at Wimbledon. Having missed that opportunity, Halep has work to do to get to the top still. She may yet win Washington as she is the top seed and into the quarterfinals. With strong results in the weeks ahead, she would likely take over the top spot from Karolina Pliskova soon.
