After taking three weeks away from tennis Mirra Andreeva returned at the Iasi Open in Romania where she's cruising through the draw.
The Russian has had a strong year so far, which is wonderful to see because many wondered whether she will be able to keep the level from last year's breakout. She emerged as a tennis phenom last year, seemingly out of nowhere to beat some seasoned veterans in some pretty big spots on the WTA Tour. Breakouts like that are not common in tennis, but they're not unheard of either, as we've had several teenagers emerge in such a way.
The big test for her would be this year, how she would react to players now game-planning for her. We are delighted to say that she's been amazing, quite a bit better than last year. We only really have to look at her Roland Garros experience to see proof of that. She was amazing at the event last year but stumbled against Coco Gauff.
This year, she made the quarter-final and outplayed Aryna Sabalenka to make the semi-final, though that was a cold shower in the end. The teenager seemed a bit overwhelmed by the moment and played a pretty poor match overall, losing in two sets against Jasmine Paolini. She wasn't able to find the same level on the grass, losing all of her matches, which was unusual as she did well last year. But now she's back on clay, and she's winning again.
The event in Iasi will serve Andreeva as a final tune-up before the Paris Olympics, and she looks really good. The first match was a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing against Noma Noha Akugue of Germany, and she followed that up against Aliaksandra Sasnovich today. The Belarusian, though, is in great form as she made the final last week in Budapest, but none of that matters. The somewhat fatigued Sasnovich was easily overpowered by Andreeva and quickly, too.
An early break in the match put Andreeva up 3-0, and that was basically it. When she starts confidently like that, she rarely loses control of the match, and Sasnovich simply looked too fatigued from her run in Budapest to put up any kind of effort. Andreeva won that first set 6-1 in just 25 minutes, and that tells you all you need to know.
She was dominant on her own serve, not allowing a single break point. On return, Andreeva also dominated thanks to Sasnovich struggling to hit her serve, which gave her enough looks at the slower second serve. The second set didn't offer anything different as Andreeva once again broke early to take a 1-0 lead. She nearly made it 3-0, but Sasnovich was able to hold, saving three break points in the process.
Still, the damage was already done, and despite trying hard, Andreeva was able to hold her serve without too many problems. The final score was 6-1, 6-3 for the Russian, who advanced to the quarter-final looking very likely to possibly go all the way and win the trophy.
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