Teenager Andreeva sets up Wimbledon quarter-final clash with Bencic
LONDON - Russian seventh seed Mirra Andreeva powered her way into her first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-2 6-3 win over American 10th seed Emma Navarro on Monday, becoming the youngest player in the last eight of the women's singles since 2005.
The 18-year-old looked at home on Centre Court, using her booming serve, regularly above 110 miles per hour, and power from the baseline to book a meeting with Swiss Belinda Bencic in the next round.
In doing so she matches the feat of compatriot Maria Sharapova in 2005 at the exact same age - 18 years and 62 days at the start of the tournament.
With a light breeze swirling around the showcourt, Andreeva took an early break in the match thanks to a fine backhand past her 24-year-old opponent who was looking to reach a second successive quarter-final at the All England Club.
Navarro struggled to return the Russian's serve, with Andreeva not giving up any points on her first serve throughout the first set. The American surrendered another break by hitting into the net from a fierce Andreeva forehand for 4-1.
Navarro saved two set points but Andreeva converted the third courtesy of another unreturnable serve, taking the lead in the match after little more than half an hour of play.
The second set brought an upturn in form for Navarro as the pair traded breaks and continued to slug it out from the baseline. However, Andreeva held on to a break advantage over her opponent and executed a beautifully weighted lob on her way to bringing up three match points.
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The teenager needed only one thanks to a fortunate net cord but had obviously lost track of the score as she lined up at the baseline again before apologising and running to the net to shake hands with her beaten opponent.
"Honestly, I kept telling myself I was facing break point and was trying to tell myself I'm not the one who is up on the score, I'm the one who is down and in the end I completely forgot the score. I happy I did it, otherwise I would have been three times more nervous on my match point," she said on court.
"I felt like my serve was not bad today... happy that (coach) Conchita (Martinez) gives me nice advice and my serve keeps working," added Andreeva. REUTERS
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