Russia’s Anastasia Potapova plays a return to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva during the women’s singles match on day seven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Sunday, July 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva, playing at Wimbledon for the first time, earned the final spot in the fourth round of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament on Sunday.
The Russian qualifier is the latest teen sensation in tennis, and she isn’t disappointing at the All England Club. Andreeva is the youngest player since Coco Gauff in 2019 to reach the women’s fourth round at Wimbledon. She reached the third round at this year’s French Open in her first major tournament.
Despite trailing 4-1 in the second set, Andreeva beat 22nd-seeded Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5 on No. 3 Court.
“I came back from 1-4, so of course I feel great,” Andreeva said on court before explaining how she keeps her cool. “Today, honestly, even if I wanted to show some emotions, I honestly, I couldn’t because I was out of breath almost every point. I really couldn’t show any emotions.”
They came out after, though, when Andreeva sat in her chair and pulled her purple Wimbledon towel up over her face for a few seconds to regain her composure.
Andreeva will next face No. 25 Madison Keys for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The third-round victory came 21 minutes after Marketa Vondrousova became the first player to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Vondrousova defeated 32nd-seeded Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula also reached the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old American beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-3 and will next face Vondrousova.
This year is only the second time play is officially scheduled for the middle Sunday at Wimbledon. Four times in the past, in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016, organizers used the day to deal with a backlog of matches.
The last man to reach the fourth round was 21st-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. He beat Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in a match that started on Saturday. He will next face sixth-seeded Holger Rune.
Later Sunday, top-seeded Iga Swiatek was scheduled to face Belinda Bencic on Centre Court. Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic will follow that match against Hubert Hurkacz.
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