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Canada’s Bianca Andreescu withdraws from French Open due to shoulder injury

May 31, 2019 | 12:38 PM

PARIS — Canadian Bianca Andreescu’s return from a two-month injury absence was a short one.

Andreescu withdrew from the French Open on Wednesday ahead of her second-round match against Sofia Kenin due to a recurring right shoulder injury.

“Tough moment for me but after discussing with my coaches, team and doctors, it was the safest decision to make after the shoulder pain I felt during the match,” Andreescu tweeted. “I will now rest and prepare for the upcoming grass court season.”

Andreescu did not express concern about her shoulder after completing a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 first-round win over Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday. The No. 22 seed from Mississauga, Ont., did say she was “a little bit sore” but wasn’t surprised given that she was off court for several weeks.

“All the nerves are kicking in again,” Andreescu said after her victory. “But I got treatment and I’m feeling really (good), actually, considering. Shoulder, it’s really good and I’m really pleased. Just got to keep getting treatment and I’ll be good.”

It was her first match since she retired from her fourth-round match at the Miami Open on March 25 with a right shoulder injury. At the time, the 18-year-old was coming off her breakthrough title at Indian Wells.

Andreescu was the last remaining Canadian in singles play after Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision to No. 27 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine on Tuesday.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., a No. 20 seed, lost his opening match to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff on Monday. Canada’s Milos Raonic (knee) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (hip abductor) pulled out of the tournament due to injury. 

Kenin, a 35th-ranked American, gets a walkover into the third round and will next face either American Serena Williams or Japanese qualifier Karumi Nara. Andreescu also pulled out of the women’s doubles competition with partner Fanny Stollar of Hungary.

Andreescu resumed on-court activities in early May after taking time off to let a small subscapularis muscle tear in her rotator cuff heal. She trained in Spain over the last few weeks and had declared herself pain-free ahead of the second Grand Slam of the tennis season.

Andreescu did not play a warm-up tournament ahead of Roland Garros, instead opting for an extra week of training.

Gabriela Dabrowski is the only Canadian left in doubles play.

The Ottawa native is seeded fourth in the women’s draw with China’s Yifan Xu. They were scheduled to play Romania’s Irina Bara and Slovakia’s Dalila Jakupovic on Thursday.

Dabrowski and Croatia’s Mate Pavic are seeded second in the mixed doubles draw. They were set to open against American Kaitlyn Christian and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark. 

The Canadian Press

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