Bianca Andreescu ended an eight-month wait for a tour-level victory on Tuesday, fighting back from a one-sided opening set to beat Dalma Galfi 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Credit One Charleston Open.
The former US Open champion’s last main-draw win had come over Barbora Krejcikova in Montreal in July, a match in which she also sustained an ankle injury that sidelined her for two months and triggered the latest in a series of setbacks to have interrupted her career.
Andreescu chose to spend the opening months of 2026 competing on the ITF and WTA 125 circuits to rebuild match fitness. She played 14 matches in 16 or 17 days and described the level as intense, saying players on those tours are “barely breaking even” and “fighting for a lot.”
The approach lifted her ranking from No. 228 to No. 140 over a ten-week span. She entered Charleston as a wild card, ranked 140th in the world.
Her turnaround in the match came through more efficient serving — all four of her aces arrived in the second set — and increased trips to the net. At 4-3 in the second set, her patience was rewarded when Galfi missed a forehand down break point, and from that moment the match swung firmly in Andreescu’s favor.
She next faces 16th seed Sofia Kenin in the second round, against whom she holds a 4-1 head-to-head record.
