Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 women’s champion at the U.S. Open, along with Canadian player Carson Branstine, both secured victories on Wednesday to progress to the final round of the tournament’s qualifying matches.
Andreescu, hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, achieved a dominant 6-0, 6-3 victory against Veronika Podrez of Ukraine in the second round of the women’s singles qualifying event. The 26-year-old Canadian managed to break her opponent’s serve five times out of 12 opportunities, setting up a match on Thursday against either Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia or Guiomar Maristany from Spain.
Meanwhile, Branstine, a 25-year-old dual citizen born in California who represents her mother’s homeland, secured a 6-4, 7-5 win over Linda Fruhvirtova from Czechia. Branstine capitalized on all five of her break-point chances and hit 22 winners compared to Fruhvirtova’s eight. She is set to face Robin Montgomery from the United States on Thursday for a chance to secure one of the remaining main-draw positions.
Notably, Andreescu made history at the 2019 U.S. Open by becoming the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam title after defeating Serena Williams in the final. She returned to the tournament in 2024, where she exited in the first round after losing to Maria Sakkari.
In contrast, Branstine had an early exit in last year’s U.S. Open qualifying but made her Grand Slam debut earlier this year at Wimbledon. During that event, she emerged from the qualifiers, defeating her friend and occasional doubles partner, Andreescu, in the process.
In additional second-round qualifying matches on Wednesday, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Russia’s Elena Pridankina. On the men’s side, Alexis Galarneau from Levis, Quebec, suffered a 7-6 (3), 6-2 loss to Dalibor Svrcina from Czechia, while Liam Draxl from Newmarket, Ontario, faced American Andrew Johnson later in the day.