Canada’s Bianca Andreescu defeats Sofia Kenin 6-4, 7-5 at Italian Open

Bianca Andreescu, of Canada, lunges for the ball during her first round match against Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic, at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, Sunday, July 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

ROME — Canada’s Bianca Andreescu advanced to the second round of the Italian Open tennis tournament with a 6-7, 7-5 win over Sofia Kenin of the United States on Tuesday.

The opportunistic Andreescu converted five of six break-point chances and had five aces in the match that took one hour 46 minutes to complete.

Kenin also had six chances to break her opponent’s serve, but she converted just three as she fell to 2-5 all-time against Andreescu.

The American won their previous meeting last month in the second round of the Charleston Open.

Andreescu, 25, will next face 12th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland at the WTA 1000 clay-court event. The players have split their previous two meetings.

The former world No. 4 from Mississauga, Ont., entered Rome ranked 137th on the WTA Tour after battling through injuries over the past few years. She improved her record to 21-8 this season, with most of her wins coming on the lower-tier WTA 125 and World Tennis Tour circuits.


This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2026.