Teenage Phenom Andreeva Starts Madrid Open With Impressive Comeback Win Over Townsend

Mirra Andreeva did really well at the Madrid Open last year, and she started the 2024 edition with a three-set win over Taylor Townsend.

In 2023, the 16-year-old Russian recorded one of her best career runs at the WTA 1000 event in Madrid, reaching the round of 16, losing only to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka, after a few upsets.

This year, she's on a mission to defend her points, attempting to do well in the Spanish capital once again, but her first match was a hard-fought win over an experienced player.

Townsend started this match much better, breaking her opponent's serve twice and leading 4-1 in the opening set of the match. Even though the teenager was able to pull one of the breaks back, it wasn't enough to change the outcome of the first set, as the American won it 6-4.

In the second set, however, the 16-year-old was a much better player. She created three break point chances, used two of those, and lost only four points on her own serve to win the set in a commanding way, 6-1.

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Eventually, the third set proved to be a real rollercoaster. First, Andreeva started with a break, which she immediately lost and Townsend even added another break to lead 3-1 in the decider.

The American then saved three break points of her opponent to increase the lead to 4-1, but the Russian was able to win three consecutive games while recovering the break to make it 4-4.

It looked like both players would control their service games from there, but after Townsend lost a 40-15 lead on her serve, Andreeva took her chance broke the opponent's serve and confirmed it with a hold to win the match 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, and set up a second-round meeting with the 29th-seeded Linda Noskova.

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