The 16-year-old phenom took a page from the Houdini playbook on Day 6 in Melbourne.
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday January 19, 2024
16-year-old Mirra Andreeva continues to make her presence felt on the Grand Slam stage. The World No.47 has now made a successful debut at all four majors since beginning her Grand Slam career at Roland-Garros last year. Impressively, she has done much more than simply win a match in all four of her major appearances.
She reached the third round in Paris, the round of 16 at Wimbledon, and the second round at the US Open. In just four Grand Slam appearances she owns a 9-3 record and has never lost to a player outside the Top 20.
The only players to have defeated Andreeva at a Grand Slam are Coco Gauff and Madison Keys. 9-3 already at the majors, after having made a successful debut at all four Slams.
— Chris Oddo (@TheFanChild) January 19, 2024
On Friday against talented Frenchwoman Diane Parry, Andreeva found herself down 5-1 in the third set before she roared to a memorable 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) victory that marked her second comeback from a set down at the majors.
The Russian says she enjoyed the process of fighting for the win, and she’s wise enough to know that she’ll likely encounter many difficult situations over the course of her career. Why not get some practice at it while she’s young?
“No, she didn’t!”
Oh YES she did 😍
Mirra Andreeva • #AusOpen • #AO2024@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/RlKDNt8KYl
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2024
“it’s also good to win when you’re fighting for every point,” Andreeva said. “I think I will have a lot of matches like this in my career. I’m just happy with the win. I don’t care how I win exactly with the score and the time, I just want to win.”
Andreeva looked to be dead in the water in the third set, but surged to life, winning five games on the trot to get from 5-1 down to 6-5 up in the decider.
“At 5-1, I don’t know, I just tried to win at least one more game to not go 6-1, 1-6, 6-1,” she said. “I just tried to win one more game to at least be 6-2 in the third. Then at 5-2, she has match point. I’m going to the net. I’m thinking, ‘Am I crazy? I’m going to the net on match point.’ But then she missed a ball… I don’t know, just the adrenaline, the desire, the feeling that I want to win.”
By the time Andreeva had come back in the third set, she was convinced she would win, even when she failed to serve out the match at 6-5. Call it confidence. Call it youth. Whatever it’s called, it spelled success.
“6-5, I lost my serve,” she recalled. “It was like, ‘Okay, 6-All. I didn’t think that’s it. I already knew that I will win, but I just have to do everything for it.”
Andreeva will bid for her first Grand Slam quarterfinal on Day 8 in Melbourne, facing the winner of tonight’s match between Barbora Krejcikova and Storm Hunter.