The rising star of Russian tennis Mirra Andreeva surprised the fans by simply qualifying for the main draw of Roland Garros. But the matter was not limited to the debut in the prestigious tournament: the 16-year-old athlete effortlessly dealt with a rival from the USA, and after that she continued to shine on the court.

The nervous situation and the Russians, who are rooting for the rival of the tribune, did not prevent the triumph of the Russians.

“I play how I feel”

16-year-old Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva continues to move towards her cherished goal in her first Grand Slam tournament. Having made her way to the main draw of Roland Garros through qualification, the girl made a brilliant debut in the first round. American Alison Riske managed to take only three games in a dispute with our athlete, losing to her young rival in two sets – 2:6, 1:6.

Impressed tennis fans could only strain their memory, trying to remember which of the young athletes made such a brilliant debut at the French Open: even the star Amelie Mauresmo at 16, after qualifying, dropped out of the fight in the first round. But Mirra herself did not feel herself involved in something historical and very modestly assessed her own successes.

“I just do what I think is right on the court. When we discuss the plan with the coaches, I think about it right before the match, but then I forget about everything and play the way I feel, ”the WTA press service quoted Andreeva.

There was no time to celebrate the debut victory at Roland Garros – another rival, the 79th racket of the world Dian Parry, was waiting for Mirra. The Frenchwoman avoided qualification by receiving a wild card. In the first round of the main part of the tournament, the 20-year-old athlete confidently outplayed the Ukrainian Angelina Kalinina – 6:2, 6:3. In the second round, she also hoped to succeed in front of her fans.

“Today was a little shaky”

Andreeva and Parry lasted 1 hour and 17 minutes in the second round of Roland Garros. During this time, Mirra did not please tennis fans with blown serves, however, her opponent did not go well with this component either. Mirra managed to get her way without aces, converting five break points and avoiding double faults on her serves. But the opponent had enough mistakes.

Already at the start, the Russian tennis player took over the advantage by winning three games in a row. Parry not without difficulty “soaked” the account after a series of failures, but this was her only local success in the first set. Andreeva almost without a fight won the next three games, in one case she even managed to take a game to zero on the opponent’s serve.

In the second set, the Frenchwoman was able to impose a fight and even led for a short time. However, her young rival did not break down in a difficult situation, quickly straightening out the situation. Dian fought, in some draws she made Andreeva’s fans nervous, but she still made a large number of mistakes. Parry could not resist the pressure of the Russian rival, losing in the second set with a score of 2:6.

Photo: © Clive Brunskill / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

– Of course, I didn’t imagine that six months after the final of the junior Australian Open I would be here. At that time, I thought that I would probably play at the junior Roland Garros, but I managed to qualify here and now I will play in the third round, which I am very happy about. I’m glad you can’t see that I’m nervous. Today it shook a little, because there was a Frenchwoman in the rivals and the stands were rooting for her. I tried to focus on my game, and I succeeded,” Andreeva said after the match.

The young Russian tennis player has taken another important step towards great victories. Now she has to compete in the third round of the tournament with the winner of the pair Julia Grabher (Austria) – Corey Gauff (USA).