Russian tennis players are still fighting hard at the Paris Olympic tournament! On Wednesday, July 31, the second round of doubles match between Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider was played. For them, playing as a duo was the last chance to win medals.
At the start of the tournament, Mirra (the pair’s 95th racket) and Diana (65) competed with Australians Ajla Tomljanovic and Olivia Gadeki. The Russians confidently won the first set (6-3), showed an uneven game in the second set (2-6), but thanks to their opponents’ mistakes and thanks to their own concentration, they won the decisive tie-break. [10:6]In total, the girls spent 1 hour and 20 minutes on the court.
In the second round, Schneider and Andreeva faced a more difficult task: fighting against the fifth seeds, Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Leila Fernandez. On the other side of the court, the Russians were waiting for their rivals, who were well acquainted with the duo game.
Dabrowski is the world’s third-ranked doubles player, a US Open – 2023 champion alongside top-ranked Erin Rutliffe, a two-time Wimbledon finalist (2019, 2024). Fernández is a promising singles player, ranked 25th in doubles and a Roland Garros 2023 finalist in tandem with Taylor Townsend.
In the first round, the Canadians scored a fairly easy victory over the French representatives Clara Burel and Varvara Gracheva (6-1, 7-5). Yes, Gabriela and Leila had not played together before, but the experience of the former and the not so comfortable game of the latter could create problems for Diana and Mirra.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Leila Fernandez
Photo: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
After the victory over the Australians, the Russians reacted by saying that next time they would play against Dabrowski and Fernandez.
— Did you check the net? Andreeva: No!
Schneider: Me neither!
– Canadians. Andreeva: Good!
Schneider: Another lefty, by the way.
Andreeva: We’ll figure it out, we’ll set sail: we’ve discovered a new tactic for ourselves.
Schneider: Yes, we will kick out Fernandez. (laughs)
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The match between Russians and Canadians began with Mirra’s submission and active action from her rivals. The Canadian tennis players immediately began to boldly enter the court and attack, thanks to which they immediately made a pause. The athletes often exchanged blows on the baseline, Diana put a lot of pressure on her opponents, and Mirra moved well around the court, although not everything she had planned worked out for the girls.
In the fourth game, Andreeva and Schneider earned several break points and came close to winning the mini-game, but it rained cats and dogs and the match was suspended with the score 2:1, 30:40 on Dabrowski’s serve. Half an hour later, the tennis players returned to the court, the Russians immediately broke and then took another serve from the Canadians.
The Russians were very close to winning the game, but they were unable to complete the task right away, losing the game with a score of 5:3 on Andreeva’s serve. Mirra and Diana competed for the opening set on their opponents’ next serve, and everything went well for them. They put a lot of pressure on the Canadians and took the match at the second attempt (6:4).
Diana Schneider and Mirra Andreeva
Photo: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
The next set started with an incredibly tenacious and prolonged game that lasted more than 10 minutes and ended in favor of the Russians only on the eighth break point. Mirra and Diana improved noticeably throughout the match, which only helped them gain momentum and create problems for the Canadians. The lost game at the beginning of the game clearly affected the game of Dabrowski and Fernandez: they became less focused and were able to score points mainly by playing with smashes. However, this was not enough for the Canadian tennis players. The Russians often acted actively and together, thanks to which they took the lead with the most comfortable advantage and then completely finished the second game with a “shuttlecock”!
In the quarter-finals Mirra and Diana will face the winners of the match between Suko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara – Kateřina Siniakova/Barbora Krejcikova.
The Olympic tennis tournament will run until Sunday, August 4. Follow all the events from Paris on the “Championship”!
