Bianca Andreescu pulls out of Montréal, citing torn ligaments in ankle

Bianca Andreescu announced her withdrawal from the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montréal on Tuesday, citing torn ligaments in her ankle incurred during her first-round victory over Barbora Krejcikova.

The 2019 US Open champion was points away from defeating Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam winner, when she turned her ankle and fell to the ground. Though she ultimately completed the match, Andreescu was unready to take the court for her second round against No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva.

“It definitely sucks because this has happened before,” Andreescu said in a press conference. “Honestly, guys, I don't have much to say. It's really frustrating for me and my team, obviously. We're doing the best that we can to prevent these things, but yeah, it's tough.”

Andreescu has been snakebitten by injuries throughout her career, including the six years since she defeated Serena Williams to win her maiden major title in Flushing Meadows. The 25-year-old enjoyed an encouraging return to form at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in the spring, scoring back-to-back wins over Donna Vekic and Elena Rybakina en route to the fourth round.

Currently ranked No. 187, Andreescu accepted a wild card into her home tournament after leading Canada to victory at Hopman Cup last week.

“It's kind of a day-to-day thing,” explained Andreescu. “I'm hoping to be ready for Cincinnati, but yeah, we don't know. Can't say.”

“It was out of nowhere,” she added of the injury. “Just happened. I mean, we work proprioception every single day. We do foot exercises, ankles. Yeah, we can't really explain it. Maybe it was emotions. Maybe I was a little bit tired. I just stepped in a weird way.

“Yeah, we're kind of just saying it was a freak accident. It's all we can really say.”

Having already received a first-round bye, Andreeva gets a walkover into the third round, and will open against either No. 28 seed McCartney Kessler or unseeded Australian Maya Joint.