16-year-old Russian woman Mirra Andreeva advanced to the third round

One of the most resonant events of the fifth day of the French Open was another success of 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who sensationally reached the 1/8 finals at a major tournament in Madrid in early May, and at Roland Garros, having overcome qualifications, became the youngest participant in the third circle since 2005 and almost secured a place in the top 100 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. The Kommersant correspondent thought about the phenomenon of a young compatriot after her confident victory over the Frenchwoman Diane Parry Evgeny Fedyakov.

The press box of the court Simon Mathieu, the newest and third most important arena of Roland Garros, accommodates about fifty people. Usually, only a few journalists look at the matches of the early stages, but at this game, by the middle of the first game, there was a full house there. Diane Parry is considered quite a promising tennis player in France. She recently won the lower WTA 125 tournament in Paris and is ranked 79th, but in this case, the journalists came to watch her opponent. The fact is that 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who opposed the Frenchwoman, even after the victory, won in 56 minutes in the first round over the most experienced American Alison Riske, the French L’Equipeand the Spanish Marca, and the Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport, and other venerable publications.

The meeting with Parry also did not last long. As on Tuesday, the Russian again gave only three games, and the match lasted 1 hour and 17 minutes.

Possessing a one-handed backhand that is rare in modern women’s tennis, Parry resisted as best she could, but with the exception of a small unsuccessful segment at the beginning of the second game, Andreeva held another exemplary match.

Tight first and high-quality second serves, well placed twisted backhands alternating with flatter forehands, accurate candles, short shots that, when skillfully used on the ground, are very effective, well-balanced exits to the net. The Russian was good in attack and reliable in defense. From the outside, it seemed that this harmoniously built girl, who has excellent physical data, already now knows absolutely everything in tennis.

This time, after the game, Andreeva for the first time was singled out for the most important of the three audiences intended for press conferences at Roland Garros. And she stayed there very naturally, successfully winning, not without the help of a light girlish coquetry, the sympathy of world tennis sharks of the pen. And when I suddenly found out that in the so-called live ranking, which takes into account the results of Roland Garros at the moment, she had already risen from 143rd place to 97th, she raised her clenched fist with joy.

The correspondent of Kommersant, who told the heroine of the day this news, asked if she dreamed of such a result at the end of January, when she reached the final of her fourth and, apparently, the last junior Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open. (There Andreeva lost to another Russian woman, Alina Korneeva.) “Of course not,” said the youngest participant in the third round of Roland Garros in the last 18 years. And when asked about the perception of everything that has been happening around her in recent days, she answered that she was a little worried, because she had not received so much attention before and, for example, had never sat in such a large hall. “I am grateful that my parents are next to me, who help me to accept and experience all this. Without them here, I probably would have completely lost my mind, ”added the troublemaker. And this was the only recognition that in fact it is still not so easy for her now.

It is, of course, too early to give Mirra Andreeva extra advances. The history of tennis knows many examples when such take-offs of junior tennis players subsequently turned into zilch.

But for now, there is a feeling that in this case everything will turn out well, and the Russian woman will be able not only to break into the world elite, but also to gain a foothold there. In this sense, a positive example for Andreeva can serve as her next opponent – the sixth racket of the world and the finalist of Roland Garros last year, Coco Gauff, who turned 19 in March. The girls are somewhat familiar. According to Andreeva, they trained together once. “She plays quite aggressively, but a training session and a match are two different things. I can also play differently, ”said the Russian tennis player, who has never managed to defeat rivals from the top ten.