Russian teenage prodigy Mirra Andreeva has continued her dream Wimbledon run at just 16 years of age, reaching the fourth round in her very first senior grass-court tournament.
Andreeva was nerveless as she defeated her compatriot, the No.22 seed Anastasia Potapova 6-2 7-5 on Sunday to reach the last-16.
The youngster had to come through qualifying and was playing her sixth match of a rain-interrupted fortnight but she seemed perfectly at home on the No.3 showcourt to defeat her far more experienced 22-year-old opponent.
Andreeva, who reached the final of the Australian Open girls’ competition in January, will burst into the world’s top 100 thanks to her Wimbledon progress, but she looks far from finished as she looks forward to a fourth round contest with the 25th seed, former US Open finalist Madison Keys.
The youngster blitzed through the first set against her unsettled opponent but Potapova regrouped to move into a 4-1 lead in the second, prompting Andreeva to demonstrate her resilience to win the next three games.
Potapova then successfully defended seven break points in a 10-minute marathon game, only for the relentless Andreeva to keep gnawing away, eventually breaking serve for 6-5 and triumphing after 95 minutes.
She’s the youngest player since the then 15-year-old Coco Gauff in 2019 to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon, the perfect follow-up to her making the third round at the recent French Open.
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, honestly, I couldn’t because I was out of breath almost every point!”
Twenty minutes earlier, Marketa Vondrousova became the first player into the quarter-finals as she defeated 32nd-seeded Marie Bouzkova 2-6 6-4 6-3, and she’ll next meet American No.4 seed Jessica Pegula, who beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-3.