This season, Mirra Andreeva has become the main heroine of women’s tennis in Russia. The young talent confidently conquers fans at the Grand Slam tournaments and breaks various records.

However, this week Maria Timofeeva took all the attention. The 19-year-old Russian lost in the qualification of the Hungarian tournament, but got access to the main draw as a lucky loser.

As a result, our tennis player reached the final and sensationally took the first title in her career!

Incredible Willpower

Timofeeva has not yet had serious successes at the adult level. She has won five junior ITF tournament titles, but has never played in the main draw under the auspices of the WTA.

This season, Masha had two unsuccessful qualifications – at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Timofeeva also started the WTA-250 tournament in Budapest with a preliminary round. The 246th racket of the world lost in the selection, but received the status of a lucky loser from the organizers and got into the main draw for the first time in his career.

In the first round, Timofeeva beat the Australian Daria Saville in three sets, then very easily passed her compatriot Diana Schneider. She, by the way, knocked out the first seed of the tournament at the previous stage – American Bernard Pera.

Photo: © IMAGO / Mathias Schulz / www.imago-images.de / Global Look Press

The meeting with Schneider was Timofeeva’s only two-set match on her way to the title game. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, she defeated the Slovenian Juvan and the Argentine Podoroska in duels with the maximum possible number of games. After such a triumph, Maria felt like the heroine of a fantastic work:

“It feels like I’m in a fairy tale. Even if I wasn’t a lucky loser, that would have been an incredible result, but I still can’t believe that I made it to the finals as a lucky loser. There are no words, – the Russian woman admitted.

Confident start

In the final, the Russian athlete met with the Ukrainian Katerina Beindl, who closes the first hundred. The 29-year-old rival had an advantage in experience: this season she even reached the third round of the Australian Open. Timofeeva was not even close to being considered a favorite.

Several times during the first set, the young Russian demonstrated her most powerful character. Several times she recouped and forced her opponent to make mistakes. The Ukrainian woman was clearly not ready for such a development of events, which made her nervous.

Photo: © Vinny Orlando / IPA Sport / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

With a score of 5:3, Katerina led 30:0 on her serve, but then she lost four draws and gave the set to the Russian woman. For the first time in a tournament, Beindl lost a game!

Loss of concentration

Our athlete also started the second part of the game excellently: she won the first game and two starting rallies on the serve of Beindl. True, then a Ukrainian woman herself issued a similar segment. Still, it is still not easy for young Timofeeva to keep one level of tennis for a long time.

At this point, Maria began to get nervous. In one of the episodes, the Russian woman even got into a skirmish with the referee, trying to prove that the ball hit the line. But the episode was regarded as controversial and awarded a point to the Ukrainian. Alas, the party remained with Katerina.

Photo: © Vinny Orlando / IPA Sport / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

Fairy tale in reality

The break between the second and third sets was longer than usual, as the girls were allowed to cool off in the room under the stands: the temperature in the Hungarian capital was over 30 degrees.

Timofeeva started the first game of the decisive set carefully, carefully working on every blow. The pause clearly benefited our athlete.

I had to suffer, but the confidence that was lost in the second set was again with Timofeeva. She collected lines and powerfully hit the court in the most difficult rallies, which irritated the Ukrainian, who missed her second serve in this game.

Photo: © Vinny Orlando / IPA Sport / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

Leading 3:0, Timofeeva easily took the final, triumphantly completing her fabulous journey on Hungarian soil. In the final set, Masha smashed her opponent with a score of 6:0!