Wimbledon 2023: 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva Reaches Second Round Of Qualifying
- Mirra Andreeva, 16, reaches second round of qualifying as she beat Rosa.
The 16-year-old, who reached the French Open third round earlier in June, beat Spain’s Rosa Vicens Mas 6-3 6-1.
She had never competed on a grass court before arriving in London.
“On the first practice I fell three times,” Andreeva told the WTA website after her win.
Andreeva is hoping to replicate her clay-court success on grass in her breakthrough year on the WTA Tour.
She reached the Madrid Open quarter-finals in April, beating top-20 players Magda Linette and Beatriz Haddad Maia, before her French Open run.
Andreeva came through qualifying at Roland Garros to reach the third round and took a set off sixth seed Coco Gauff before losing 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-1.
“It’s pretty tough for me to get used to the grass – the moving is different, the ball bounces differently, the grass is slippery,” Andreeva said.
“I try to do small steps and I still feel dangerous on court. I feel a bit slow, but I think it’s OK.
“As we can see, it’s going pretty well for now.”
Next up for is France’s Chloe Paquet, who qualified for Wimbledon last year and is 101 in the world rankings, just one place above Andreeva.
Andreeva is also being accompanied by a Netflix crew filming the second season of Break Point, a documentary series about life as a professional tennis player.
“We started to work together since Paris,” she said.
“I like the attention they’re giving me. They just follow me, they don’t ask me any questions, so it’s OK. I just do my thing and they’re just around.”
Andreeva’s sister, Erika, is also hoping to qualify for SW19 and came through her match against Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic on Tuesday 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Erika, 19, is ranked 46 places lower than her younger sister and the two are not slated to meet one another in the qualifying draw.
