Bianca holds US Open Trophy in front of skylineAP Photo/Charles Krupa
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Weekend Roundup: Celebrating Andreescu’s historic Grand Slam victory

This weekend, Bianca Andreescu stole the hearts of all Canadians as she won the nation’s first-ever Grand Slam singles title, and inspired Team Canada athletes to also push for record-breaking moments.

Tennis

READ: Andreescu becomes Canada’s first Grand Slam champion

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Bianca Andreescu won the US Open on Saturday, which made her the first Canadian to ever hold the Grand Slam singles champion title.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga defeated tennis legend, Serena Williams, in two sets 6-3 and 7-5 for the title. Williams was fighting for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam, yet Andreescu’s power was unbeatable. With this win, Andreescu is expecting to move to world No. 5 in the WTA rankings.

READ: Andreescu is the first Canadian woman in 50 years to win Rogers Cup title

Truly, it was the rematch that fans could have only dreamed of after Williams retired early on at the Rogers Cup in August.

At the start of the breakout year, Andreescu won her first WTA title at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells. Her earnings prior to this year were $215,888.00 and now in 2019, she has won $6,051,985.00.

Athletics

READ: Canada claims three medals at Diamond League final

It was a strong weekend for Athletics Canada at the final stop of the IAAF Diamond League Finals in Brussels.

In the 200-metre final, Andre De Grasse finished with a bronze medal and a seasons best time of 19.87 seconds. Aaron Brown finished right behind in fourth at 20.00 seconds. Noah Lyles (19.74s) of the United States finished in first and Ramil Guliyev of Turkey claimed second at 19.86s, beating De Grasse by one-hundredth of a second.

Alysha Newman soared to great heights and finished in third after clearing 4.77 metres in women’s pole vault. Katerina Stefanidi of Greece and the Rio Olympic champion earned a season’s best of 4.83 metres for first place and Anzhelika Sidrova of Russia took home second.

In the 5000-metre final, Gabriela DeBues-Stafford set another Canadian record. Her time of 14.44.12 seconds put her past her previous record of 14.51.59s that she set in May. Although she didn’t place, DeBues-Stafford’s seventh-place finish is one for the record book.

Sage Watson was victorious in the non-Diamond League 400m hurdle event at 55.58 seconds. Paulien Couckuyt (55.68) and Ayomide Folorunso (56.80) trailed the Canadian to earn podium positions.

Basketball – 3×3

Team Canada celebrated their third straight FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series tournament title after defeating Japan 21-13 on Saturday in Montreal.

Earlier on Friday, the team of Katherine Plouffe, Michelle Plouffe, Paige Crozon, and Catherine Traer beat Mexico 22-0, the Netherlands 21-9, and the United States 21-13. In the semifinals, Team Canada was victorious over the United States once again with a score of 21-16.

The squad previously won the series in Prague, Bucharest and entered Montreal sitting in second. Next, in the series is Udine starting on September 13th.

Freestyle Skiing

During the FIS Men’s halfpipe event in Cardrona, Noah Bowman won silver with 93.40 points. Bowman was the divide on the podium between the United States. Birk Irving finished first with 95.60 points and Aaron Blunck finished behind Bowman with 92.80 points.

Canada’s Brendan Mackay also placed in fourth with 92.40 points and Simon D’Artois finished in sixth (87.00). Sam Mckeown closed off the top ten for Canada with his ninth-place finish (31.20).

Volleyball

Team Canada won bronze at the NORCECA Continental Championship after defeating Mexico in straight sets (25-14, 25-18, 25-12) in Winnipeg on Saturday.

Coming up in January is the Continental Olympic Qualifier for Tokyo 2020. Canada will face off against Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Soccer

For the start of the CONCACAF Nations League A campaign, Team Canada came out hard and defeated Cuba 6-0 on Saturday.

Junior Hoilett saw a hat-trick, and Jonathan David, Jonathan Osorio and Doneil Henry all put up one on the scoreboard. This set a record for most goals on home soil, and Canada has yet to lose to Cuba at home (4-0-1).

Team Canada is currently eighth in the CONCACAF, and are pushing to make the top six to help qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Canada will kick off with Cuba on Tuesday before facing the United States in October and November. These matches will determine the League A winner and who will advance to the final four.

Beach Volleyball

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana Paredes made it to the beach volleyball quarterfinals in Rome. Although, Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda “Duda” Santos Lisboa defeated the Canadians in straight sets, 21-18 and 21-14.

READ: Pavan and Humana-Paredes claim beach volleyball world title

The pair previously won Canada’s first beach volleyball world tour title and clinched their ticket to Tokyo 2020 in July.

Canadian duo, Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, were eliminated in the first round.