Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open women’s champion, and Canadian player Carson Branstine both secured victories on Wednesday to progress to the final stage of the U.S. Open qualifying rounds. Andreescu, hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, triumphed over Veronika Podrez from Ukraine with a dominant 6-0, 6-3 scoreline in the second round of the women’s singles qualifying competition. The 26-year-old Canadian managed to break her opponent five times out of 12 opportunities, setting up a match for Thursday against either Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia or Guiomar Maristany from Spain.
On the other hand, Branstine achieved a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Linda Fruhvirtova from Czechia. The 25-year-old, who holds dual citizenship and was born in California but represents her mother’s homeland, capitalized on all five of her break-point chances and delivered 22 winners compared to Fruhvirtova’s eight. Branstine is now scheduled to compete against Robin Montgomery from the United States on Thursday for one of the remaining spots in the main draw.
In 2019, Andreescu made history at the U.S. Open by becoming the first Canadian to claim a singles Grand Slam title, defeating the renowned Serena Williams in the final. She had her last appearance at the tournament in 2024, where she was eliminated in the first round by Maria Sakkari. In contrast, Branstine faced a first-round exit at the previous year’s U.S. Open. Her Grand Slam debut occurred in 2025 at Wimbledon, where she emerged from the qualifiers and notably defeated her friend and occasional doubles partner, Andreescu.
In parallel events on Wednesday, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino suffered a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Elena Pridankina from Russia in the second round of qualifying. In the men’s second-round qualifying matches, Alexis Galarneau from Levis, Quebec, fell short with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 defeat by Dalibor Svrcina from Czechia. Liam Draxl from Newmarket, Ontario, was set to face American Andrew Johnson later in the day.
