Bianca Andreescu, the winner of the women’s championship in 2019, along with Canadian player Carson Branstine, secured victories on Wednesday to progress to the final stage of the U.S. Open qualifying rounds.
Hailing from Mississauga, Ont., Andreescu triumphed with a 6-0, 6-3 victory against Veronika Podrez from Ukraine in the second round of the women’s singles qualifying event. The 26-year-old Canadian managed to break her opponent 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 achieved a 6-4, 7-5 win over Linda Fruhvirtova from Czechia. The 25-year-old, who holds dual citizenship and was born in California but represents her mother’s homeland, converted all five of her break-point chances and hit 22 winners, compared to Fruhvirtova’s eight. Branstine is scheduled to compete against Robin Montgomery from the United States on Thursday for one of the remaining spots in the main draw.
Andreescu made headlines in the 2019 U.S. Open by becoming the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam, defeating the renowned Serena Williams in the final.
In the previous U.S. Open appearance in 2024, Andreescu was eliminated in the first round by Maria Sakkari. Branstine faced a similar fate last year in the qualifying rounds but made her Grand Slam debut earlier in 2025 at Wimbledon, where she advanced through the qualifiers, defeating her friend and occasional doubles partner, Andreescu, in the process.
In other second-round qualifying matches on Wednesday, veteran player Rebecca Marino from Vancouver was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Russia’s Elena Pridankina. On the men’s side, Alexis Galarneau from Levis, Que., suffered a 7-6 (3), 6-2 loss to Dalibor Svrcina from Czechia. Liam Draxl from Newmarket, Ont., faced off against American Andrew Johnson later in the day.