Mirra Andreeva had to endure an inspired effort from Olga Danilovic today in Iasi, but she handled it well, coming back from a 2-5 deficit in the final set to win.
The teenager opted to play at the WTA 250 event in Iasi, likely to better prepare for the upcoming Olympics, where she'll also play. The weaker draw allowed the Russian to really cruise through to the draw until the semi-final, as she faced players that weren't really on her level. She had a really easy time winning comfortably in two sets, but today's match wasn't easy. She faced Olga Danilovic who has been playing on a really solid level for a while. She had a decent showing at Roland Garros, and a return to clay certainly didn't see her play any worse.
Today she put up a tremendous effort against Andreeva who, to be fair, didn't really have a strong start in this match. She fell behind early with a double break and never quite found a good rhytmn in the opening set. Even when she kind of got back into the match and nearly made it 5-5, the Russian still looked a bit shaky overall.
What gave her tremendous problems was the very aggressive style that Danilovic plays with. The Serbian has very flat shots, which put a lot of pressure on Andreeva, especially when she didn’t hit her serve that well. Danilovic escaped in the first set, winning it 6-4 and even took an early break in the second. That clearly had the alarm bells going off for Andreeva as she started to play much better. The Russian eventually outplayed Danilovic to take a 5-2 lead and was able to win the second set 6-3.
It still didn't look that great overall because the match was seemingly still on Danilovic's racquet. When she was able to hit her shots, the Serbian won points comfortably, but the 17-year-old was able to find some decent solutions overall. She opened with an early break in the final set but then completely wasted it with some really bad play.
Even after breaking again for a 2-1 lead, Andreeva still struggled on her serve because she didn't have a good response when Danilovic put the pressure on her. It's a similar problem she has against other strong hitters. Luckily for her, Danilovic is not a top player, yet, so despite being overwhelming, she wasn't able to close out the match. A 5-2 lead was certainly a big one, but Andreeva never gave up.
She battled and got some cheap mistakes by the Serbian to make it 5-5. That 5-5 turned into 6-6, and the set was decided in a tiebreak. It was played fabulously by Andreeva, who jumped out to an early lead and never let it go. Eventually, she won the tie-break 7-1 to reach the final and have a chance to contest for the trophy.
After this win and the level she's displayed recently, Andreeva will certainly be the favourite in the final, but this was a warning.
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