Bianca Andreescu, the winner of the 2019 women’s championship, and her Canadian counterpart, Carson Branstine, both secured victories on Wednesday to progress to the final stage of the U.S. Open qualifying rounds. Representing Mississauga, Ont., Andreescu triumphed over Veronika Podrez from Ukraine with a score of 6-0, 6-3 in the women’s singles qualifying tournament. The 26-year-old Canadian managed to break her opponent’s serve five times out of 12 opportunities, setting up a match for Thursday against either Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia or Guiomar Maristany from Spain.
Branstine, a 25-year-old dual citizen born in California but representing her mother’s homeland, clinched a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Linda Fruhvirtova from Czechia. She capitalized on all five of her break-point chances and hit 22 winners compared to Fruhvirtova’s eight. Branstine is scheduled to face Robin Montgomery from the United States on Thursday for a chance to secure one of the remaining spots in the main draw.
Andreescu made history in the 2019 U.S. Open by becoming the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam title, defeating the legendary Serena Williams in the final. She most recently participated in the tournament in 2024, where she was eliminated in the first round by Maria Sakkari. On the other hand, Branstine faced an early exit in the previous year’s U.S. Open qualifying rounds. Her Grand Slam debut was at Wimbledon earlier in 2025, where she advanced through the qualifying rounds, even defeating her friend and occasional doubles partner, Andreescu.
In other second-round matches on Wednesday, Vancouver’s experienced player Rebecca Marino suffered a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Russia’s Elena Pridankina in the women’s qualifying event. Moving on to the men’s second-round qualifiers, Alexis Galarneau from Levis, Que., was defeated 7-6 (3), 6-2 by Dalibor Svrcina from Czechia. Later in the day, Liam Draxl from Newmarket, Ont., went up against American Andrew Johnson.
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