MADRID: Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva upset Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid Masters on Wednesday to clinch her first win on the WTA Tour.
The 15-year-old Andreeva, awarded a main-draw wildcard, hit four aces and converted three of five break points to defeat 2021 US Open runner-up Fernandez in an hour and 16 minutes in the Russian’s second match on tour. She next faces 26-year-old Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia on on Thursday, two days before she turns 16.
According to OptaAce, World No.194 Andreeva is only the third 15-year-old to win a WTA1000 match after Americans Coco Gauff (2019 Miami Open) and Catherine Bellis (2015 Miami Open). She also became just the second 15-year-old to beat a top 50 opponent (Fernandez is World No.38) at WTA1000 level, after Bellis beat Zarina Diyas, who was ranked 32nd at the time.
Krasnoyarsk-born Andreeva made her Tour-level debut at the WTA250 event in Monastir, Tunisia last year as a wildcard where she lost 3-6, 7-6(4), 3-6 to compatriot Anastasia Potapova in the opening round. On the senior ITF circuit, she has won six titles.
Andreeva is World No.3 in the ITF Junior Rankings and reached this year’s junior Australian Open final. She has an elder sister Erika who also plays tennis.
On Tuesday, another teenager won in the first round when 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic beat Katie Volynets 6-3, 7-5 to set up a match against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. The 58th-ranked Fruhvirtova is the youngest player inside the top 100. She will turn 18 on Monday.
Fifteen-year-old Brenda - Linda’s younger sister - went down 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 to Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.
Elina Svitolina, a former No. 3 playing in her first match at a WTA 1000 event in 14 months following maternity leave, lost 6-4, 7-5 to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Amanda Anisimova of the United States lost 7-5, 6-2 to Arantxa Rus, while countrywoman Caty McNally defeated Dalma Galfi 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Agencies
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