A year ago, Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva came to the English capital to compete in the Wimbledon qualifiers. In 2023, the Krasnoyarsk native won a total of six consecutive victories on the courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which allowed her to advance from the qualifiers to the fourth round of the main draw. There, Mirra fought on equal terms with the much more experienced American Madison Keys, but still suffered a final defeat in three sets.
Over the past year, the young Russian has made incredible progress, the apotheosis of which was her natural breakthrough at Roland Garros 2024. A month ago, 17-year-old Mirra reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. Breaking into the top four on the Parisian courts ensured Andreeva’s rise to 23rd in the world rankings, which is currently her highest position on the WTA circuit.
Despite her young age, Andreeva could be described as the most consistent Russian player at Grand Slam tournaments during her still short stay on the women’s circuit. Wimbledon 2024 became the sixth major tournament in the Russian’s adult career. And so far she has never lost in the first round of the main draw. Her worst result: the second round of the US Open – 2023. Otherwise – reaching the third round of Roland Garros – 2023, two defeats in the fourth round (Wimbledon – 2023 and the Australian Open – 2024) and the semi-finals of Roland Garros – 2024.
Such stability and steady progress allowed Mirra to take 24th place at this Wimbledon. Her first opponent in London was fellow Czech Brenda Frukhvirtova, ranked 88th. As for the history of the tennis players’ confrontation on the court, they had never met before at the WTA level. The junior tennis players only competed once in the final of the tough G1 tournament in the USA three years ago. Frukhvirtova, who performed well that season, defeated Andreeva 6:1, 6:0. At the start of Wimbledon, the Russian had a chance to take revenge.
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The Russian tennis player started the match playing on the move, and the opening match was not a success for our athlete in every sense of the word. After missing two break points, Mirra was unable to take someone else’s serve. But things could have turned out even worse. In one of the rallies, Andreeva rushed to the net at high speed and was unable to stay on the grass, allowing a hard landing. A few rallies later, the Russian stumbled on the baseline and was about to fall back onto the grass. Fortunately, Mirra came out unharmed and was able to continue the meeting.
And as soon as the Russian tennis player was able to adapt to the always specific conditions of the grass, in the first set everything went like clockwork. The first lost game lasted 11 minutes, which could indicate a prolonged struggle in the game, but already 23 minutes later Andreeva won the set. The Russian gave her Czech counterpart a hidden kick and quickly won six games in a row 6:1.
After such a fall, Frukhvirtova decided to leave the court for a while to have the opportunity to collect her thoughts. But immediately after her return, the game picture did not change at first. Mirra made winning draws as if on a conveyor belt, sometimes finishing with just one blow. For a long time, Brenda could not do anything at all. She made one mistake after another and was clearly out of her element.
The second game of the second set could have interrupted such a successful match for the Russian. In it, Mirra missed a triple break point, which allowed Brenda to recover at 0:40. Afterwards, the Czech even earned a game point, but the Russian caught fire in time and still broke, winning first the eighth and then the ninth game in a row 6:1, 3:0.
Mirra Andreeva
Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images
With each passing minute on the court, Frukhvirtova increasingly demonstrated that she had health problems and was therefore unable to play her best game. But soon everything changed abruptly and radically. Halfway through the second set, Brenda called a doctor onto the court. The medical worker had a brief conversation with the Czech tennis player, after which Frukhvirtova was taken off the court to provide her with medical assistance.
Just before her opponent called the doctor, Mirra found herself in a state of crisis, losing two games in a row for the first time and losing her serve 3:2. The break between the fifth and sixth games was very long and amounted to 10.5 minutes. This downtime did not sit well with Andreeva, who still does not have enough experience in such situations.
Mirra lost her rhythm and completely lost the thread of the game from her hands. The players seemed to have switched roles and now Frukhvirtova took control of match after match. After 0:3 at the start of the second set, the Czech won six games in a row, responding to the Russian with her hidden “shuttlecock”: 6:3 in her favour.
Brenda Frukhvirtova
Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images
For complete symmetry, Brenda was only missing one game won at the beginning of the third set. The Czech tennis player started the match with a quick counterattack and took the lead in the decisive set 2:0. Her winning streak amounted to eight games won, while Mirra stopped at a winning streak of nine games an hour earlier. The Russian did not allow her opponent to win the ninth game in a row with a reverse break, but then the Czech immediately took someone else’s serve again and regained a comfortable 3:1 lead.
In the third hour of the match, the players slightly changed their game strategy. If earlier Mirra and Brenda had long winning streaks, now they began to exchange breaks. In the fifth game, the Russian again made a reverse break, but in the sixth she again lost her serve, 4:2 in Frukhvirtova’s favour.
And this exchange turned out to be fatal for Mirra. She was unable to get back into the game. A few minutes later, the Russian again missed her serve and suffered a 6:1, 3:6, 2:6 defeat. With a 6-1, 3-0 lead, the Russian lost 12 of her last 14 games and lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. Mirra left the unlucky 12th court in tears. Sad, but it is a much-needed experience for further building a successful career. It is simply impossible to do without such mistakes at the age of 17.
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Mirra lost the match at Wimbledon 2024 and had a safe lead during the match. LIVE!
It is interesting that earlier the eldest of the Andreev sisters reached the second round of the third Grand Slam tournament of the season. Initially, 20-year-old Erica was not supposed to compete in the main draw of Wimbledon, as she could not win that right. Last week, the Russian took part in the preliminary stage of the Wimbledon tournament, where in the qualifying final she lost to British tennis player Sonay Kartal (world number 295) 3:6, 1:6.
But after the third ranked player in the world, Belarusian Arina Sabalenka, refused to play in London, the Russian took her place in the main draw. The 101st ranked player in the world made the most of the gift she received and made it to the second round. In three sets, Erica defeated the 107th ranked player in the world, American tennis player Emina Bektas, in a tough fight 7:6 (7:5), 3:6, 6:3.
The match lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes. During the match, Andreeva served six times in a row, made three double faults and converted one break point out of five. Bektas had 13 aces, one double fault and two break points converted into six. It is important to note that this victory was Erica’s first in her career in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Previously, she had only three losses in the first rounds.
It is worth noting that the victory over Bektas allowed Erica to return to the top 100 and move up to 84th place in the live rankings, which is the best position in her career. Previously, the eldest of the Andreev sisters had never risen above the 94th line. A return to the top 100, and even more so a rise to the top 90, practically guarantees her direct entry into the TBS main grid if she continues to maintain these positions. In the second round of Wimbledon, Erica will play Croatian tennis player Donna Vekic.
