Andreeva, 16, lost to an American. Mirra got angry with the judge and did not shake his hand.
Pavel Panyshev Jul 10, 2023 15:29 UTC Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Russian woman led 6:3, 4:1 and had a break point, but failed to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Mirra Andreeva, playing in her second straight adult Grand Slam tournament (after Rolland Garros), continues to delight Russian fans. In both Paris and London, the 16-year-old Russian woman made it to the final stages through qualifying. Interestingly, at the beginning of the year, Andreeva was still playing in the final of the Australian Open for juniors, and now she is already fighting to reach the quarterfinals of the adult Slam.
On the way to today’s match with Madison Keys, the youngest of the Andreev sisters has already knocked out the Chinese Wang, the Czech Kreychikova and the compatriot Potapova from the fight. Thus, for the first time, Mirra reached the 1/8 final of the TBSH, repeating the feat of Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, who surpassed this milestone exactly 20 years ago, also at 16. Among the Russian tennis players of the 21st century, no one else could do this in the English Slam. If we take earlier time, then the best result here belongs to Anna Kournikova, who in 1997 at the age of 16 became a semifinalist of the tournament, losing there to her partner Martina Hingis.
Mirra is already settling into the top 100 of the live ratings, getting closer and closer to the top 50. With such progress and attitude towards the matter in the future, there is no doubt that Andreeva will only progress.
“I am very happy to have won this match. Anastasia played very well. Congratulations to her and all her team because they have done a good job. I did everything I could. I gave it my all, I was able to get back into the game with the score 1:4 in the second set. So, of course, I feel great, ”Andreeva said after defeating Potapova.
How Andreeva defeated Potapova:
Andreeva won the Russian derby! Mirra, 16, advanced to the fourth round in her Wimbledon debut
If we talk about the keys, then just before the start of Wimbledon, the American in the final of the tournament in Eastbourne turned out to be stronger than the Russian Daria Kasatkina. Madison has been on the women’s tour for a long time, she is an experienced and proven tennis player.
The girls had never played with each other before. Keys, as a more experienced athlete, started the match much stronger, hitting a break on the move, but Mirra immediately responded in kind. A rope played for the Russian woman at the decisive point. Mirra slowly played and added to such an extent that she made two more breaks and took the first game away from the stunned American. The Russian woman played very cleanly and intelligently, it’s nice to watch tennis in her performance. Kitty is ahead in hits-10:5, but she also has more unforced errors-12:6.
Mirra began the second set with a confident break, before taking her serve. Madison was getting more and more nervous: the American’s game got out of her hands. In the end, Andreeva had a good chance to take someone else’s serve for the second time in a set and take the lead 5:1, but her opponent saved this game and then took our tennis player’s serve, obviously adding psychologically.
As a result, a tiebreaker was reached, in which Keys turned out to be more successful. The American has a very powerful backhand, with forehands often putting Mirra in a difficult position. Some kind of plan needed to be devised to prevent Madison from displaying her best qualities on the court. Angry after the lost game, Andreeva threw the racket, for which she received a warning. Keys began acting more actively and was constantly going online. She is ahead in hits-18:5, but she also has a lot more unforced errors-21:6.
myrrh andreeva
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In the third set, Keys started more confident, and Mirra seemed upset and slowed down, missing the shot, also double-faulting at a key moment. Perhaps, the fatigue began to affect the game of the Russians. The day before he had played while Madison was resting.
Andreeva endured and did her best, tears began to appear in her eyes, and then Mira was punished at the most important moment for allegedly throwing a racket onto the court. In fact, Andreeva’s supporting leg twisted and she dropped the racket. The referee awarded him a penalty point, because there had already been a warning earlier and it turned out to be a match point. Keys took advantage of the situation and led the match to victory. But for Mirra it still turned out to be an excellent Wimbledon, the young Russian can only be congratulated. Andreeva is approaching the top 50 of the women’s ranking.
