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19yo Bianca Andreescu, the Canadian tennis rising star of Romanian origin, has defeated Belinda Bencic 7-6(3), 7-5 in the US Open semifinals and she is to meet Serena Williams in the final on Saturday, being thus a win away from becoming Canada’s first major singles champion.
Andreescu saved six break points in the first set, and was down 5-2 in the second. Bencic twice served to force a decider, but the Canadian reeled off five consecutive games to lock up the victory, improving to a remarkable 44-4 on the season.
The 15th-seeded teenager thus became the second Canadian ever to reach a grand slam final. Last year, Andreescu was ranked 208th in the world after a first-round loss in the US Open qualifying draw. But she has won 32 of 36 matches this season, titles at Indian Wells and Toronto and climbed to No 15 in the rankings.
A month ago, Andreescu met Serena Williams in the Rogers Cup final and won the Toronto tennis tour after Serena Williams withdrew from the competition.
The end of the match when Serena retired have gone viral worldwide, with the 19yo Bianca going to her opponent’s bench, took a knee, and started consoling the veteran tennis player.
37-year-old Serena Williams was sobbing when Bianca went and hugged her.
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