"Winner buys dinner" - Bianca Andreescu and Yulia Putintseva engage in fun face off before the real battle at the Abu Dhabi Open
Bianca Andreescu and Yulia Putintseva were involved in a fun face-off on Monday as they hyped up their real contest at the Abu Dhabi Open.
Andreescu and Putintseva will lock horns with each other at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Center on Tuesday in the first round. While the Canadian earned direct qualification to the main draw, the World No. 45 had to play a couple of qualifiers to reach the finals. The Kazakhstani beat Anastasia Zakharova and Nigina Abduraimova in the qualifiers.
Ahead of the fixture on Tuesday, Putintseva took to social media to post a picture of the two intensely staring at each other. Andreescu reshared the same and wrote:
"Too good"
The World No. 37 also added that the dinner will be on the winner from the round-of-32 fixture on Tuesday.
"Winner buys dinner lol," she wrote on her Instagram stories.
Upon suffering a shoulder injury during her match against Lesia Tsurenko in the semifinals of the Hua Hin championships, Andreescu's participation at the Abu Dhabi Open was doubtful. However, much to the relief of her supporters, the 22-year-old gave a positive update on her injury two days ahead of the tournament.
She took to social media to reflect on the injury and also asserted her participation at the Abu Dhabi Open.
"Pretty much sums up the week. Jokes aside, just wanted to thank the tournament for hosting such an accommodating and welcoming event! I sadly had to retire but still very happy to have reached the semis! Going to rest up now and get ready for Abu Dhabi in a few days," she wrote in her tweet.
🏼
Pretty much sums up the week😅
Jokes aside, just wanted to thank the tournament for hosting such an accommodating and welcoming event! I sadly had to retire but still very happy to have reached the semis! Going to rest up now and get ready for Abu Dhabi in a few days💪🏼😁 https://t.co/HlrphZhh1I
Andreescu will hope to turn things around at the Abu Dhabi Open when she faces Putintseva. However, the head-to-head record between the two stands at 1-0 in favor of the Kazakhstani.
A look at how Bianca Andreescu and Yulia Putintseva faired at the 2023 Australian Open
Bianca Andreescu and Yulia Putintseva had rather disappointing campaigns at the Grand Slam Down Under as both suffered exits in the second round.
Andreescu was impressive in her first-round fixture against Marie Bouzkova, winning the match in straight sets. However, the Canadian took an unexpected blow in the second round as she lost against lower-ranked, second-favorite Cristina Bucsa.
Meanwhile, Putintseva registered a win in three sets against Sorana Cirstea in the first round only to crumble down against 30th seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets in the succeeding round.