Brilliant Bianca Andreescu gets first win since October 2024 at Madrid Open, sees off rising American McCartney Kessler

Bianca Andreescu is back and in the winner's circle at the Madrid Open in a confidence boosting success for the 24-year-old former US Open champion seeing off McCartney Kessler 6-2, 6-4.

Andreescu has been out since late last year and only returned this past week at the Rouen Open. She saw off Kessler in her opener in Madrid using a protected ranking to get in and given that it will only be for a few tournaments, a run here could do her good.

It is a first win since October and after having emergency appendectomy surgery in February, it is a delight for her fans to see her back and winning again.

In particular on return of serve today, Andreescu was superb. Kessler dumped a double fault into the net at 4-2 and the Canadian took full advantage to go into a 5-2 lead in the first set. She was being aggressive on the Kessler serve and it was working forcing errors from the wing of the rising American.

It wasn't without drama for Andreescu who is very much used to playing out three setters that she doesn't need to get engulfed in. She saved some break points and blew some set points before finally closing it out on her serve in the next game 6-2.

The second set was again one way traffic for Andreescu who broke twice in a row for 4-1 up and seemed to be cruising towards the next round but Kessler came back to break back.

It was the eighth try for Kessler to break and she claimed it but she was still down a break. This proved the difference as Andreescu continued to do what she needed to on serve and served it out 6-4. Her next reward is a clash with Elena Rybakina in the second round. A superb tie awaits there.