Mirra Andreeva przyznaje, że Iga Świątek „dosłownie mnie zabiła” po emocjonującym

Mirra Andreeva przyznaje, że Iga Świątek „dosłownie mnie zabiła” po emocjonującym

CNN
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Mirra Andreeva etched her name into the history books once again by reaching the final of Indian Wells.

The 17-year-old beat two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Świątek 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 in their semifinal on Friday.

In doing so, Andreeva became the youngest player to advance to the Indian Wells final since Kim Clijsters in 2001. She also became the fifth player to reach this stage before turning 18 years old since the tournament’s inception in 1989; the other four players to do so are Clijsters, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.

“After she literally killed me in the second set, I was just (like), well, ‘Okay, might just try to fight,’” Andreeva said after her semifinal victory over Świątek. “There is not much I could do about it. She was playing amazing. And I just kind of decided to grind and fight for every point. It doesn’t matter how I put the ball in. But I have to put it in.

“So I just try to do everything and in the end, it was not too bad.”

Friday’s victory was Andreeva’s 11th in a row as she continues her meteoric rise. But world No. 2 Świątek provided a stiff test for the ascendant Russian.

There was little to separate the two players during the first set, with both players hitting more winners than unforced errors. The serves of both helped keep them on track, with Andreeva not even facing a break point during the opening set.

Eventually, after 56 minutes of high-level action, it was Andreeva who was able to come up big in the key moments to take an early lead.

“I just felt like, I don’t know why I felt so much confidence, and I felt like I’m going to go and play the tiebreak like it’s the last tiebreak of my life,” Andreeva said. “So I just went for all my shots. My serve was great, and, you know, just felt super comfortable and super confident during the tiebreak. I kind of played on a roll.”

However, Świątek showed why she’s a multiple-time grand slam winner, comfortably leveling the scores in the second set. Andreeva credited Świątek for outplaying her, while describing the second set as a “bit weird.”