Mirra Andreeva survived an early scare against World No. 175 Marina Bassols Ribera on Wednesday at Roland Garros, dropping the first set as her forehand leaked errors in every direction.
Roland Garros: Scores | Order of play | Draws
The course correction, however, was to be applauded. Once she settled in, the 19-year-old seized control, flipping the script on the Spaniard in the second set and rolling to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory in 1 hour and 51 minutes.
“I was making a lot of mistakes, and she used it as an opportunity,” Andreeva said in her on-court interview. “She went for her shots and she played very well. I was also complaining quite a lot in the first set, because I was obviously not very happy with my level. But I’m super happy that I realized in time that complaining doesn’t bring me anywhere.
“I don’t know how many times I have to prove that to myself, but I’m happy that I was able to switch my mindset and be very focused throughout the last two sets.”
The win sends Andreeva into the third round for the fourth time in as many appearances in Paris and moves her a step closer to a third straight second-week showing. Standing between her and that stage is No. 27 seed Marie Bouzkova, whom Andreeva leads 4-0 in their WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz head-to-head.
If the version of Andreeva who dominated the final two sets returns, she’ll be a tough out not only in the next round but in any that follow. She won 12 of the last 15 games and looked as if she had flipped some sort of imaginary light switch.
Of course, the turnaround wasn’t quite that simple. Instead, here are the keys to her comeback victory.
As the forehand goes
When Andreeva said she was unsatisfied with her play, much of it stemmed from the early returns she received off her forehand, which were suboptimal to put it kindly. Of her 18 unforced errors in the opening set, 15 came off that wing, many missing long.
“I felt like the conditions were really different compared to the time when I was warming up,” Andreeva said. “It’s obviously very hot these days in Paris and I was warming up at 3 o’clock and I felt like the ball was flying and it was bouncing. When I stepped on the court here, I just felt like the ball wasn’t flying very much. All of my mistakes were long, but that’s how I felt.”
As the match progressed, she looked more comfortable deploying the shot, and the error count reflected it. She committed nine forehand errors in the second set and just three in the decider.
Finding her Zen
The more she connected on her forehand, the less she complained. The less she complained, the better the rest of her game looked. Andreeva in a state of Zen — or her version of it — is a dangerous player, and she looked the part in the second and especially the third set. While frustration still peeked through at times, she moved on quickly from bad points and kept building positive momentum.
One reason behind her mindset shift was her trusty notebook, with an assist from coach Conchita Martinez.
“It was kind of a reminder from my coach,” Andreeva said. “Because I’m supposed to use it when things don’t go very well, and I didn’t use it after the first set. So she reminded me to, you know, open it and just read what I wrote to myself. I have some motivational sentences.”
Asked what they said, she kept it private.
“That’s a secret,” she said. “Maybe after I win one Grand Slam, if that ever happens, I’ll share something with you.”
What’s next
After becoming just the third teenager this century to claim 50 or more WTA-level wins on clay, joining Caroline Wozniacki (54) and Vera Zvonareva (50), there may be no place better for Andreeva to win a Slam than Roland Garros.
Only two teenagers this century have more match wins at Roland Garros than Andreeva (13): Coco Gauff (15) and Kim Clijsters (14). The 19-year-old can match Clijsters with a win over Bouzkova on Friday.
Their most recent meeting came in Miami in March, when Andreeva won in straight sets to reach the fourth round. All four of their matches have come in the past two years, and Andreeva has won all four in straight sets.
