(Madrid) Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, 16 for two days, saw her Madrid adventure come to an end in the round of 16 for her very first WTA tournament, against world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka, victorious 6-3, 6 -1 Monday.
Andreeva, invited to the main draw, knocked down a top-50 player, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez (38th), then two top-20 players, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia (14th) and Poland’s Magda Linette (19th), to the first three rounds. Each time in two rounds.
Against Sabalenka, who won in less than 1 hour 15 minutes, the step was too high.
In the WTA rankings, it is nevertheless the promise of a jump of fifty places on Monday, synonymous with entering the top 150, when the young Russian was only playing her third pro tournament of the season (after two wins on the ITF secondary circuit).
In the quarter-finals, Sabalenka, crowned at the Australian Open in January – where Andreeva was finalist in the junior tournament – and finalist in Stuttgart a week ago, will face the Egyptian Mayar Sherif (59th).
This is the first time that Sherif has reached this stage in a tournament of this category (WTA 1000), the second on the women’s circuit.
At the start of the day, Daniil Medvedev, not very fond of clay, got out of a 100% Russian duel with Alexander Shevchenko, 96th in the world, in the third round, but the world N.3 had to fight more than 2 hours 40 minutes to win 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
