Tennis prodigy Mirra Andreeva made a winning start to her 2024 Australian Open campaign after overcoming a very tricky player.
Mirra Andreeva had a pretty solid preparation for this event, playing at several events. She didn't quite have the most satisfying off-season according to her own words, but none of that was really noticeable in her play.
She took part in the World Tennis League in December and played pretty well. After that, she played in Brisbane and won a few matches there, and then finally added another win at the Kooyong Classic exhibition.
That was a pretty good sequence of results, and the Australian Open was no different. She took on Bernarda Pera and found a way to beat her, but it was not easy.
We've gotten used to Andreeva beating opponents easily, and the opening set of this match took work. Pera stuck around and did quite well despite losing her serve in the match's first game.
She would break back and then even take a 4-2 lead, which she obviously didn't hold, but this was more complicated for Andreeva than she was used to.
Part of the problem for Andreeva was Pera's aggressive nature because she wasn't bad. The American finished the set with 17 unforced errors but also 16 winners, which was 10 more than Andreeva.
She took control of most rallies and finished them on her own terms. For a good portion of the opening set, Pera wasn't misfiring that much, but ultimately, she misfired a couple of times too much.
The start of the second set gave Andreeva another early break as she took a 2-0 lead. Then she broke again and took a 3-0 lead, and from there, it was pretty simple to finish things off. The final score was 7-5 6-1 for the Russian, who became the 3rd 16-year-old in round two of the event.
Brenda Fruhvirtova won her first-round match, as did Alina Korneeva, and after Andreeva's win, there are now three 16-year-olds in the second round of the Australian Open.
Mirra Andreeva vs Bernarda Pera Match Stats:
| Mirra Andreeva | Bernarda Pera | |
| 2 | Aces | 1 |
| 1 | Double Faults | 1 |
| 64% | First Serve % | 50% |
| 67% (26/39) | Points Won After First Serve % | 63% (19/30) |
| 57% (12/21) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 43% (13/30) |
| 55% (5/9) | Break Point Conversion | 50% (2/4) |
| 9 | Winners | 19 |
| 12 | Unforced Errors | 27 |
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