Andreescu becomes highest-ranked Canadian woman in tennis history
Bianca Andreescu is so good she doesn’t even need to play to break records anymore.
Well, at least last week. With Elina Svitolina falling early at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the Ukrainian dropped to eighth in the WTA rankings, allowing the Canadian phenom to rise to a career-high World No. 4 — the highest position a Canadian woman has ever achieved in tennis history.
The 19-year-old surpassed Eugenie Bouchard’s career-best ranking of No. 5 back in 2014. Bouchard dropped 68 spots to 220th in the latest rankings.
Andreescu is the only teenager in the Top 20 and has the opportunity to create even more history beginning a week from now. No Canadian — man or woman — has ever been higher than No. 3 in the world rankings (achieved by Milos Raonic), but the upcoming WTA Finals in Shenzhen is where she could topple that feat before the close of 2019.
The WTA Finals is a tournament that will feature the top eight players in the world, and a perfect run (three round-robin wins, a semifinal and a final) would garner as many as 1500 points. Considering she’s less than 300 points away from current World No. 2 Karolina Pliskova, Andreescu will like her chances of moving up the board.
It would only further extend what has been a meteoric rise for the Mississauga, Ont., native, who finished 2018 ranked 178th. Andreescu has compiled a 48-5 match record in 2019, including tournament wins at Indian Wells, Toronto and, most memorably, the US Open in September, where she became the first-ever Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam title.
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