French Open: Mirra Andreeva and Jannik Sinner flex title credentials with thumping wins

The National

2 days ago

Rising teen star Mirra Andreeva sailed into the French Open fourth round with an impressive straight-sets demolition of Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.
The Russian sixth seed brushed aside Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen sealing victory in 78 minutes on her first match point.
Andreeva is enjoying a sparkling campaign having secured a historic title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February, before beating world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Indian Wells less than a month later.
And the 18-year-old, who reached the semi-finals at last year's tournament at Roland Garros where she lost to Jasmine Paolini, has yet to drop a set in three matches in the French capital.
Andreeva is hoping to become the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam title since her compatriot Maria Sharapova's 2004 Wimbledon triumph.
Her path to the final has been made slightly less perilous by the fact both Sabalenka and reigning champion Iga Swiatek are in the other half of the draw.
'I knew Yulia is a very tricky player, she has an interesting game and it's uncomfortable for me,' said Andreeva, who won nine of the last 10 games on her way to victory. 'She likes to cut the rhythm a lot, I knew it would be tough.
'I kind of knew what to expect I knew I had to play at 100 per cent and fight for every ball and get those drop shots. I'm happy with the way I play today.'
Standing in the way of Andreeva and a quarter-final spot will be her good friend Daria Kasatkina of Australia who knocked out 10th seed Paula Badosa 6-1, 7-5 in their third round match which lasted one hour 33 minutes.
The 17th seed held off a late charge from the Spaniard before sealing her first top-10 win in 11 months.
American third seed Jessica Pegula was made to battle for her fourth-round place before eventually beating former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in three sets.
Pegula, who has never been beyond the quarter-finals in Paris, fought back from a set down before going through 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 against the unseeded Czech.
'Obviously had some chances in the first, but sometimes you can't quite get the break,' said Pegula, who will now face the winner of the all-French wildcard clash between Lois Boisson and Elsa Jacquemot.
'You're so close, so close … I think when I finally broke her I kind of freed up a little bit. I thought I was playing her the right way the first set, I just needed to be a tad more aggressive.
'And then there were times in the third where maybe I was a little too aggressive, coming in on awkward shots. Playing her, that's why's it's so hard – it's like a really fine line, especially on clay.'
In the men's draw, world No 1 Jannik Sinner was in ruthless form as he destroyed Jiri Lehecka 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Italian came flying out of the blocks by winning the opening 11 games without reply with Lehecka drawing loud cheers when he finally got on the board.
Sinner, who returned to tennis in May after a three-month-doping ban, has yet to drop a set in his second tournament back, after reaching the final in Rome earlier in the month.
The top seed has now stretched his winning streak at Grand Slam events to 17 matches, after winning the titles at the 2024 US Open and the Australian Open in January before his doping ban.
He will now face 17th-seed Andrey Rublev, who advanced after his opponent Arthur Fils of France withdrew with a back injury.
'This morning I said to my team I'm feeling well and physically ready,' said Sinner. 'We had to go hard in the beginning because the beginning in Grand Slams is very important for confidence. I warmed up well, I felt very good so after 20-25 minutes I was feeling brave.'
'It was a relaxed morning. My team give me the right tactics, I tried to play them in the match so it's a combination of also being happy on court – it's very important.'