16-year-old Mirra gave up a place in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The American was helped by experience and a referee.
The main discovery of this season, Mirra Andreeva played the second match in less than a day. Given the impressive advancement of the Russian woman from the qualification to the 1/8 finals of Wimbledon, a small pause between meetings could have a negative impact on the freshness of the young tennis player.
In the fourth round, the Russians’ rival was the experienced Madison Keys, who won the prestigious grass tournament in England a week ago. However, only Mirra was on the court until the middle of the second set.
And then disaster struck. Andreeva herself gave the game, but the referee gave the decisive advantage to the American.
Anxious start
With each round, the Russians have more and more difficult tests. In the second round, the titled Czech Kreychikova was beaten, then Andreeva waited an extra day to meet with Potapova. At the same time, the meeting with Nastya began at 14:00 on Sunday (Moscow time), and already at 13:00 on Monday, Mirra entered the 1/8 final game against Keys. Considering that Andreeva had to qualify, the load that fell on her looks very serious.
Madison, in turn, had a whole day to recover, as she managed to finish the game against Marta Kostyuk on Saturday evening. If we talk about the current form, then the American could be the most difficult opponent for Andreeva, since it was Madison who won the last grass tournament before Wimbledon (Eastbourne). In the final, by the way, the best-rated tennis player from Russia, Daria Kasatkina, was outplayed.
At the same time, 16-year-old Mirra holds only the first adult tournament on grass and, in fact, played only six matches before meeting the Keys. Whether it is possible to associate the uncertain start of the match with this fact for Andreeva is a big question. However, it didn’t work at all to catch the first game on the serve of the American, and then Mirra lost hers. Cold shower for all fans.
However, in women’s tennis, the presence of a break rarely determines the fate of the game. Mirra made a return break and leveled the game very quickly. Moreover, with the score 3:3 on the serve of Keys, the young Russian woman earned two break points, one of which she managed to convert and come forward before her serve (4:3).
It became clear that the American felt out of her element. She simply was not ready for such a sharp turn of the game, so she began to make mistakes very often. Andreeva took her game back and was able to pin the Keys on her serve again. Several spectacular shots along the line at the decisive moment of the ninth game brought her a victory in the set (6:3).
Incredible American comeback
The 28-year-old US representative tried to take the lead from the first game of the second installment. She took Mirra’s serve well, attacked and was close to a break, but again the magic of the most accurate strikes along the line and tricky candles killed Keys’ hope for success.
Mirra literally demotivated Madison. Psychologically, the American looked less stable, gave away part of the draws due to her mistakes and, in general, looked far from being the favorite.
Andreeva made a break, took her serve again and took a 3-0 lead in the second set. Mirra did not slow down, tried to win the next game, but Madison still held the blow. Each draw on the pitch of the American turned into a protracted exchange of blows. And when it already seemed that Mirra would squeeze her opponent, Keys earned two break points and took Andreeva’s serve.
It seemed that Mirra was broken. But this momentary doubt was dispelled by the Russian woman, who was able to take her serve and lead 5:4. Andreeva could decide the fate on the pitch of the American, but Keys showed her teeth and confidently leveled the score.
As in yesterday’s match, the native of Krasnoyarsk reached the score 5:5 in the second set, and secured a tie-break in the next game. But Keys easily took her serve. At the decisive moment of the second set, Madison practically stopped making mistakes and equalized the score in batches.
Significant decision of the judge
Dealing with the excitement of being 1-0 up in sets and winning 4-1 in the second and then losing in a tie-break is very difficult. And if you’re only 16 years old, it’s almost impossible. After losing the set, Mirra threw her racket, for which she received a warning.
No matter how the Russian woman tried to find the confidence that was in her strikes throughout the half of the match, she could not oppose something to Keys. The first three games were for the American. In the fifth game, with the score 1:3, she even cried a little in a situation where she could not get an advantage on the serve of Keys.
The difference in the experience of rivals was clearly felt at this very moment. A set earlier, Madison started up and pulled out a dead match, and now in a similar situation, Andreeva showed with her whole appearance that she did not believe in victory. But even in such a psychological hole, Mirra did not let the American go far.
She took her pitch, had a break point on someone else’s. But Keys resisted and took the lead 5:2. In the pause between the seventh and eighth game, Mirra no longer concealed her emotions, burying herself in a towel and sighing bitterly. How difficult it is to deal with all this!
Naturally, Madison wanted to close the game on Mirra’s serve. Andreeva resisted, but still the American managed to drag her into the fight. When the score was over, our athlete lost the racket from her hands, she lost the rally and emotionally screamed out, reacting to the failure.
However, the judge considered that there should be a punishment for this action, and since the 16-year-old tennis player had already had one warning before, its repetition automatically meant a match point for Keys. Mirra went to the tower to protest the decision, but it was useless.
On the next draw, Keys closed out the match. Leaving the court, Andreeva did not shake hands and did not even look at the referee, who gave this dirty point to the American. The most severe defeat, which should not have happened at all.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
39-year-old French tennis player and husband of Elina Svitolina Gael Monfils (ATP 110) Withdrew from the 2026 Australian Open.
The Frenchman lost to the Australian in four sets in the first round of the major tournament in Melbourne Dane Sweeney (ATP 182) in 3 hours 54 minutes.
Australian Open 2026. 1/64 finals
Dane Sweeney (Australia) [Q] – Gael Monfils (France) – 6:7 (3:7), 7:5, 6:4, 7:5
Monfils played on the Australian Open courts for the 20th time. For Gael, this was his last match at the Australian slam; He will retire in 2026.
Gael’s best results at the Aus Open are quarter-finals in 2016 and 2022. Sweeney will face eighth seed Ben Shelton in the second round.
“First of all, thank you very much. My journey started with you in 2005 – that’s when I first came here. Now the year is 2026 and somehow this is already the finish line. Thank you very much for this amazing journey. You were incredible. Thank you very much. I have very good memories here… Great battles. I am lucky to have played here for many years.”
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Melbourne) The ex-no 1 world Naomi Osaka (current 17e in the WTA rankings) qualified Tuesday in three sets for the second round of the Australian Open.
Crowned in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, the Japanese won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against the Croatian Antonia Ruzic (65e).
The four-time Grand Slam winner will play in the next round against Romanian Sorana Cirstea (41e), who started the last Australian Open of her career at age 35 by eliminating the German Eva Lys (39e).
Entering the court with a white parasol, a wide-brimmed hat and a long white train, Osaka started the match with her feet on the ground to quickly lead 3-0.
Ruzic recovered to 3-3 before again losing three games in a row and the first set.
The Croatian responded in the second round, winning by the same score.
In the decisive set, Osaka broke from the start to break away at 2-0, but Ruzic came back to her level again before taking her throw in to lead 4-3, service to follow.
This time it was the Japanese who held on to get back to 4-4, before inflicting a shutout then a new break on Ruzic to seal her qualification with a final winning backhand, after almost 2 hours 30 minutes of fighting.
Osaka played her first Grand Slam match on Tuesday since her semi-final at the United States Open in September, her best run in a major tournament since she returned to the circuit in early 2024 after the birth of her first child.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Melbourne) World No.2 Jannik Sinner, double title holder, benefited on Tuesday from the retirement of Frenchman Hugo Gaston (93e), injured his abdominals, to qualify for the second round of the Australian Open.
The 24-year-old Italian was leading 6-2, 6-1 when Gaston threw in the towel.
“It’s the abs that have given up a little. I felt the pain in the middle of the first round. I called the doctor immediately at the end of the first round to get an anti-inflammatory,” explained the Frenchman who suddenly felt “like a little stab”.
He fell during the first round after returning a drop shot from Sinner, but he assured that the injury and the fall were not linked.
On the other hand, the pain in his abdominals bothered him a lot “on serve and on high balls”.
“I saw that he was not serving at a very high speed, especially in the second set,” commented Jannik Sinner in his post-match interview on Central.
“I am very happy to qualify, to return to this place that I particularly cherish […]but that’s not the way I wanted to win this match,” added the world No.2.
Sinner’s next opponent will be Croatian Dino Prizmic (127e) or the Australian James Duckworth (88e).
For his first official match of the season, the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner took a little time to settle down, notably having to save three break points in the first game.
But once he managed to take Gaston’s serve in the particularly tight sixth game, Sinner unfolded, winning the next seven games. A few moments after snatching his only game in a one-sided second round, the Frenchman informed his opponent that he was giving up, after a little over an hour of match.
“Giving up pisses me off a bit,” Gaston commented. But hey, on the other hand I can’t afford to play at 50%, even 100%, to beat Sinner…”
Undefeated since his retirement at the beginning of October in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the world No.2 scored a sixteenth victory in a row on Tuesday and joined Carlos Alcaraz (1) in the second round of the Australian Open.er), Alexander Zverev (3e) and Novak Djokovic (4e).
“I felt very well prepared, we worked a lot physically and on the court” during the offseason, said Sinner, who skipped the Davis Cup finals in Bologna in November to have an additional week of preparation for the 2026 season.
For his part, Lorenzo Musetti, seeded fifth, progressed due to the retirement of Raphaël Collignon of Belgium in the fourth round.
The score was 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 and 3-2. The nature of the injury has not been released.
Shelton hits hard
The 23-year-old American Ben Shelton inherited probably the worst draw, in the person of the first ATP player not to have been seeded, the Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
But last year’s semi-finalist, who made his name by reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne in 2023 despite never having left the United States, was uncompromising and won 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5).
PHOTO MARTIN KEEP, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ben Shelton
“It’s always difficult to face Humbert in the first round, but I remained very calm, very focused on my game and I played better and better,” he stressed with satisfaction.
He will play in the second round against the Australian Dane Sweeny (182e).
Monfils eliminated in the first round of his last tournament in Australia
Gaël Monfils, who will end his career at the end of the season, was eliminated Tuesday in the first round of his last Australian Open by the inexperienced Australian Dane Sweeny (182e world) 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5.
The 39-year-old Frenchman plays his 23e and final season. Ex-world No.6 currently 110ehe was playing his 20e Australian major since his first participation in 2005. He has reached the quarter-finals twice, in 2016 and 2022.
PHOTO PAUL CROCK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Gaël Monfils
“My journey began here in 2003 (in qualifying, Editor’s note). We are in 2026 and it is the finish line, but thank you all for accompanying me, you were great,” he told the audience from the court while generally only the winner of the matches, before the final, speaks on the field.
“I fought four hours again today, but this guy (Sweeny) is very strong. I wish him good luck,” he added to his winner.
For the latter, the victory is particularly beautiful, because in addition to having beaten one of the great names in tennis of the last twenty years, he offered himself his first victory in a Grand Slam tournament.
“It’s like I’m in a series… it’s incredible,” he commented. Before the match started, his goal was “win or lose, enjoy the chance to be there.”
As usual, the most popular French player since Yannick Noah spared no effort. And despite the encouragement of the public – in particular from a group of French people – the youth of his opponent (24 years old) visibly prevailed, as Monfils appeared so tired.
Broken one last time to be down 6-5 in the fourth set and the Australian’s service to follow, Monfils failed to reverse the situation.
“You’re here, you played your 20are Australian Open and you have entered a very closed circle: you are six players from the Open era (since the 1969 edition) to have reached this bar,” tournament director Craig Tiley told him, who came to greet him on the court.
“We want to thank you for your career, your attitude and the way you taught us how to play this wonderful game. Well done,” added Tiley.
Monfils’ last match in Melbourne, greeted by a hearty ovation from the public with “thank you Gaël” sung in the stands, lasted 3 hours 51 minutes.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
