Bianca Andreescu’s comeback after a 15-month absence from tennis ended abruptly in the second round of the Australian Open on Wednesday with a 6-3 6-2 defeat to wily Taiwanese veteran Hsieh Su-wei.
Eighth seed Andreescu, one of the 72 players unable to train during hard quarantine in the leadup, attacked with her typical abandon at Rod Laver Arena but found a brick wall in the form of the double-handed Hsieh, who drove the Canadian to distraction with her defence, reports Reuters.
With no apparent plan B, Andreescu doubled down on the power game and the unforced errors piled up as she slumped to a 5-2 deficit in the second set.
Andreescu saved two match points on serve but bowed out meekly with a double-fault on the third as Hsieh advanced to a third round clash against Venus Williams or Sara Errani.