In her first week back on clay Mirra Andreeva is already through to the semi-final of the 2024 Iasi Open after beating Lea Boskovic in two fairly simple sets.
Andreeva didn't have the best grass season this year despite being a decent player on the surface. She had a good run at Wimbledon last year, but this year, things simply didn't work out that well for her. It was a bit strange because, in general, it's been a really strong year for the teenager. Many wondered whether the phenom would run into some issues in her second year on the WTA Tour, but she didn't, which proved her talent.
She outperformed herself, especially at Roland Garros, where she made the semi-final after a signature win over Aryna Sabalenka. Returning to clay from grass certainly proved to be a great decision for her, as the teenager has been playing spectacular tennis this week in Iasi. She won the first two matches relatively easily and added another easy win in the quarter-final of the WTA 250 event.
The opponent was a player ranked outside the Top 100, so she was the big favourite to win comfortably. However, being that and actually executing it are two very different things. Opening with an early break will always be ideal, and she was able to do that in this match. Adding another break is certainly a good way to pull yourself close to victory, and that's what she did by taking a 5-1 lead.
Eventually, after 38 minutes of play, the scoreboard showed 6-2 for the Russian, who didn't face a single break point in that opening set. She was great on return attacking when needed, which proved more than enough. The second set featured plenty of battling but not a different result, as Andreeva once again took an early break. Boskovic, for the most part, did what she could, but unfortunately, she was simply overwhelmed in the rallies.
Andreeva is the better player, and generally, on clay, it shows in the rallies. She was superior and didn't make too many mistakes, so there was only so much Boskovic could really do. Another break made it 4-0 for the Russian, and by then, it was more than clear that Andreeva would be playing in the semi-final.
A highly encouraging thing for the Russian was serving really well, as she did the entire match. It really opens up her game nicely and doesn't allow her opponents a lot of chances to break. With the way she's playing on return, if she can keep her serve comfortably, then she's going to be very hard to beat. The final score in this match ended up being 6-2 6-0, which is just a continuation of an impressive run that is heading towards the trophy.
No player has played better than Andreeva in Iasi this week. She's already through to the semi-final, so she only needs two more wins to get the trophy. She's also the top seed, so technically, she's the favorite to win the trophy, and so far, she's been backing it up with some amazing performances and impressive straight-sets wins.
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