Mirra Andreeva continues to shine at the 2024 Madrid Open with the now 17-year-old reaching the Quarter-Finals and a first last eight appearance in a WTA 1000 tournament for the Russian who defeated Jasmine Paolini 7-6, 6-4.
While her mother may have been spending on their credit card on presents, she said that first and foremost the main present she wanted was a win. She got that against the Italian and a tricky operator at that. Paolini is very good on clay and also won Dubai earlier this year so is a player on a bit of a hot streak. But so is Andreeva and weathering some adversity also she found a way through.
In the opening set, it was the adversity time as Andreeva fell 5-2 behind after being broken on three occasions in a row and it seemed like her run was falling apart on her birthday. She also reached the Last 16 last year in a tournament which saw the breakout of the teenager who was later crowned the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
But one trope of Andreeva is either petulance at times or resolve and it was the latter. She dodged set points against the Italian and managed to send it all the way to a tie-break breaking serve twice in a row to win the set and claim the early impetus.
That seemed to knock the wind out of Paolini who fell 4-0 behind in the second set. She took a break back, but Andreeva was soon at the brink. Again she took away some late impetus as she was broken at 5-4 but soon broke back to seal it. Danielle Collins or Aryna Sabalenka now await in the tie of the day which will seal the fate of that side of the draw.