Schoolgirl ousts Tunisia’s Jabeur
ANDREEVA: PART OF A NEW WAVE OF RUSSIAN TEENAGERS
Russian 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva put her school work to one side yesterday and instead underlined her huge potential by crushing sixth seed Ons Jabeur in under an hour at the Australian Open.
Playing her first main draw at Melbourne Park, Andreeva was electric in downing the threetime Grand Slam runner-up 6-0, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena in just 54 minutes.
Ranked 47, it was her first win over a top-10 player, having burst onto the scene when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year as a qualifier.
“I was really nervous before the match, but I saw that she was nervous too. It kind of helped me, because I know I’m not the only one who is nervous before the match,” said Andreeva.
“I decided to just enjoy, because it’s Rod Laver Arena, I’m playing against the person that I like. I decided just to play, and I think I played OK.”
It was her second appearance on Melbourne’s centre court after last year losing the girls final to fellow Russian Alina Korneeva.
She admitted it left her “super upset” and drove her forward against Jabeur.
“Today [yesterday] when I saw that I play on Rod Laver, I said that this time I have to take my chance and I have to win on the big court for the first time, and so I did,” she said.
Andreeva made her Grand Slam bow at the French Open last year with a run to the third round after coming through qualifying, ahead of her exploits at Wimbledon.
In her only other Grand Slam, she lost in the second round of the US Open to eventual champion Coco Gauff.
She is pursuing her dream of a tennis career while still juggling school. At such a young age, Andreeva is restricted by the WTA Tour in the number of tournaments she can play.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka pummelled her second straight teenage qualifier into submission yesterday to ease into the third round.
The powerful Belarusian second seed wasn’t at her best on Rod Laver Arena, but still did enough to beat 16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-2. –