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Fixture: (23) Bianca Andreescu vs Wang Xiyu
Date: April 28, 2023
Tournament: Mutua Madrid Open 2023
Round: Second Round (Round of 64)
Venue: Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain
Category: WTA 1000
Surface: Outdoor clay
Prize money: €7,652,174
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Bianca Andreescu vs Wang Xiyu preview
Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu will face off against Wang Xiyu in the second round of the 2023 Madrid Open on Friday.
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Andreescu was stunned by qualifier Cristina Bucsa in the second round of the Australian Open. She rebounded by reaching the semifinals of the Hua Hin Championships, but was forced to retire midway through her match against Lesia Tsurenko.
The Middle Eastern swing proved to be disappointing for Andreescu as she failed to win matches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. She performed slightly better at the BNP Paribas Open, giving Iga Swiatek a tough fight in the third round only to come up short in the end.
Andreescu showed signs of a resurgence at the Miami Open. Against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round, she unfortunately sustained another mid-match injury which forced her to retire.
The Canadian is now making a comeback after taking a month off to recover.
Wang, meanwhile, faced Varvara Gracheva in the first round here. The Chinese youngster led by a break twice in the opening set, but squandered her advantage on both occasions. She would go on to lose the set in the ensuing tie-break.
Wang dropped serve in the very first game of the second set, but flipped the script immediately. She broke Gracheva's serve twice to jump to a 4-1 lead. The 22-year-old maintained her position as the frontrunner this time around and went on to clinch the set.
The two were evenly matched for most of the third set, but Wang managed to get the upper hand towards the end. She went on a three-game run to complete a 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 comeback win.
Bianca Andreescu vs Wang Xiyu head-to-head
This will be the first meeting between them, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0 for now.
Bianca Andreescu vs Wang Xiyu odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Bianca Andreescu vs Wang Xiyu prediction
Wang scored a pretty good comeback win over Gracheva in the previous round, but might have pushed herself a little too much. She had some trouble moving around towards the end, indicating some sort of leg injury.
Andreescu herself is returning from another injury layoff. Physical issues have halted her momentum for quite some time now and she's starting from scratch yet again.
Wang does possess a slightly better serve, but Andreescu is no slouch in that department. The former US Open champion's ground game has been quite inconsistent this year. At times, she resorts to just overpowering her opponents.
On other occasions, she's more patient and mixes up her shots quite well to confound her opponents. That's what took Andreescu to the top of the game back in 2019. If fully fit, the Canadian should be able to emerge victorious against Wang.
Pick: Bianca Andreescu to win in three sets.
