Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva has declared she desires of successful 25 grand slam titles after she reached the third spherical of the French Open.
The prodigious Russian expertise got here by means of qualifying and has misplaced simply six video games in her first two main-draw matches, beating France’s Diane Parry 6-1 6-2 on Thursday.
Andreeva, who was overwhelmed within the Australian Open women’ ultimate, solely turned 16 on the finish of April and is setting her sights sky excessive for her tennis profession.
“The dream: I know that (Novak) Djokovic, he did 22 grand slams, so I want to go until 25, if it will be possible,” stated the assured teenager.
Andreeva will attempt to preserve her toes on the bottom, although, including: “As my coach says, to not be like a diva, to stay humble all the time. I don’t think that I have a lot of success now. I didn’t win any tournaments. I just play. It’s the third round of Roland Garros. I will play.”
Next up shall be a contest towards one other prodigy – 2022 French Open runner-up Coco Gauff, who beat Julia Grabher 6-2 6-3.
Gauff, nonetheless solely 19 herself, made her preliminary breakthrough by beating Venus Williams en path to the fourth spherical at Wimbledon at age 14.
The American is only one of 12 seeded ladies left within the subject, the fewest to succeed in the third spherical at Roland Garros because the variety of seeds expanded to 32 in 2002.
Andreeva and Gauff have hit in apply collectively, however that received’t imply a lot Saturday.
“The practice and the match is different, so I might also play different,” Andreeva stated. “I don’t know. Who knows?“
Defending champion Iga Swiatek again had a tough first set, this time against American Claire Liu, before pulling away to win 6-4 6-0.
The world No.1, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, had difficulty finding her rhythm in windy conditions.
Swiatek would rather play on Philippe Chatrier in the day than at night, though, and revealed she has been requesting not to feature in the late prime-time session.
Every night session so far has consisted of a men’s match despite organisers facing criticism last year for not giving equal billing to the women.
“I felt like I played already night sessions in this clay court swing,” stated Swiatek. “Obviously it would be nice if we had women’s matches as well. But I’m not helping.”
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina fought off a Czech teenager for the second straight spherical, following up her success towards 16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova by defeating 18-year-old Linda Noskova 6-3 6-3.
Seventh seed Ons Jabeur has appeared robust to date, the Tunisian seeing off Oceane Dodin 6-2 6-3, whereas Kayla Day upset American compatriot Madison Keys 6-2 4-6 6-4.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
