Mirra Andreeva plays ‘best match’ to thrash ‘inspiration’ Ons Jabeur
Mirra Andreeva has convincingly beaten her idol and sixth seed Ons Jabeur, with the Tunisian only managing to win two games against the teenage sensation.
Andreeva is making her first ever appearance in the senior draw of the Australian Open, with the 16-year-old losing in the junior final last year.
However, this has not seemed to be an issue for the Russian so far, beating both Bernarda Pera and now Jabeur in straight sets to reach the third round for the first time.
The world No.47 has openly admitted how much of a fan she is of Jabeur in the past and was very pleased after achieving her ‘dream’, “Of course I’m happy I played with Ons. It was one of my dreams to play against her, because I really like the way she plays. As I said before, I’m inspired by her. So it means a lot, today it meant a lot, this match that I won.
“She’s so nice. Now, after the match, she came to me, she wished me luck. I just know that she is who she is and she never changes. That’s what I like about her.”
This is not the first time that Andreeva has made a run at a major tournament, having also reached the third and fourth rounds of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, respectively.
But, Andreeva thought this victory was the best of her career, “Probably it was the best match [of my career]. The first set, I didn’t expect that I would play this good. Second set was also not bad. For me, it was an amazing match. I’m super happy with the level that I showed today on the court.”
She continued, “I was really nervous before the match, because I’m really inspired by Ons, by the way she plays. In the first set, I showed amazing tennis. I honestly didn’t expect that from myself. I just wanted to go and play on this big court for the second time, just to enjoy tennis, just to enjoy the time, and I did.
“Before I started to play on the WTA Tour I always watched her matches. I was always so inspired by the way she plays and now I had the chance to play against her.”
16, 263 – At 16 years and 263 days, Mirra Andreeva is now the youngest player in the Open Era to claim a 6-0 opening set against a top 10-seeded player in the women's singles at a Grand Slam event. Wow.#AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/Ni9w0FTvXk
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 17, 2024
Andreeva will look to make more history on Friday when she plays world No.72 Diane Parry, having already beaten the Frenchwoman at her home major last year.
Inside the baseline…
If we didn’t already know that Mirra Andreeva was a star, then her victory today has certainly proved it. There were suggestions that an upset could be on the cards against Ons Jabeur, but pretty much nobody expected the match to be as one-sided as it ended up being. Andreeva will certainly be the favourite against Diane Parry and could even have a good shot at going even further.
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