Mirra Andreeva returned to hard courts Wednesday, rolling past former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-2 in 54 minutes to reach the third round in Toronto.
Toronto: Scores | Order of play | Draws
With the win, Andreeva improved to 2-0 against Pliskova at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and earned her first victory at the National Bank Open. Since the format’s introduction in 2009, only Coco Gauff (54) has collected more WTA 1000 wins as a teenager than Andreeva (52).
“I knew Karolina was a very tough opponent to have in the first match,” Andreeva said in her on-court interview. “Luckily my coach helped me a lot. She prepared me well for the match. So I’m very happy with the way I was playing today and I’m super happy to advance to the next round.”
Andreeva will face the winner of No. 30 Leylah Fernandez and Renata Zarazua in the third round, but before turning the page, here are Andreeva’s best moments from her win over Pliskova.
Andreeva leads 0-0, 0-40: Andreeva set the tone immediately, breaking at love in the opening game. Pliskova’s two double faults opened the door, but Andreeva created her first break chance with a 10-shot rally capped by her trademark backhand winner down the line.
Andreeva leads 6-0, 2-2, 0-30: Pliskova showed some resistance early in the second set, recovering from the opening-set bagel to take a 2-0 lead, but Andreeva broke back quickly and leveled at 2-all. In the next game, she absorbed a big first serve from Pliskova and finished the point with a forehand pass up the line, setting up another break moments later.
Andreeva leads 6-0, 5-2: The highlight of the match came in a 16-shot rally in which Andreeva spent much of the exchange on her back foot. She managed to flip the point in her favor, going from forehand to backhand before scrambling to keep the ball in play and finishing with a backhand volley to secure her sixth break and move within a game of the finish line.
Andreeva scrambles, puts away a volley to move within a game of victory in Toronto
Andreeva closed out the match six minutes shy of the one-hour mark with a love hold, completing a dominant all-around performance. She won 56 points to Pliskova’s 28, hit 16 winners against nine unforced errors and won 77% of her first-serve points. Outside of the early break in the second set, she didn’t face another break point.
