Mirra Andreeva is the latest teen sensation in tennis, a 16-year-old Russian who is the youngest player to win a match in the women’s main draw at the French Open since 2005.
Do the math: That’s before she was born.
The 143rd-ranked Andreeva made her way through qualifying rounds last week without dropping a set to earn her debut berth in the women’s bracket at a Grand Slam tournament — and she still is making things look easy so far at Roland Garros. A 6-1, 6-2 victory over Diane Perry of France in 77 minutes on Thursday put her in the third round; that followed a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alison Riske-Amritraj of the U.S. that lasted 56 minutes.
Next up will be a contest against 2022 French Open runner-up Coco Gauff, who beat Julia Grabher 6-2, 6-3. Gauff, a 19-year-old American, is seeded No. 6 and made her initial breakthrough by beating Venus Williams en route to the fourth round at Wimbledon at age 14.
Gauff is one of just 12 seeded women left in the field, the fewest to reach the third round at Roland Garros since the number of seeds expanded to 32 in 2002.
AP
