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ROLAND GARROS – Is this Mirra Andreeva’s big moment, the day she wins her first Grand Slam title at age 19 and ahead of most peoples’ prognostications?
It could be. There is no Sabalenka, Rybakina or Gauff standing in the way. Rather, she will face a plucky Polish qualifier, Maja Chwalinska, who has played nine matches already and might (should?) be far more awed by the occasion.
Andreeva is 21-3 on the clay-court season with a title in Linz, a final in Madrid and a semifinal in Stuttgart on her resumé.
And most important for Saturday’s final, she has already had her moments in Paris; she’s no rookie here.
Here are some fun flashbacks from great moments in her first few trips to Paris.
Slam debut in qualifying a breeze
In 2023, ranked No. 143 and in her first qualifying effort at a major, she got through with zero problem against three very good opponents: Polina Kudermetova, Emiliana Arango and Camila Osorio – all of whom have since been inside the top 60.
Here she is against Arango.
Practicing with high-level colleagues
Andreeva would end up making the third round in her Roland Garros debut.
She easily ran through Alison Riske-Amritraj and Diane Parry before taking No. 6 seed Coco Gauff to three sets.
Perhaps she learned a few things practicing with Gauff earlier in the tournament.
Here’s what that looked like (as an aside, it sure feels like Gauff’s forehand looked a lot better back then. Notably on court with her was Patrick Mouratoglou, who has basically vanished from the pro tours of late).
Fast forward to 2024
A year later, Andreeva had just jumped into the top 40. And she had another great tournament.
The notable early upset was over No. 19 seed Victoria Azarenka, who was twice her age.
Azarenka and Andreeva, dressed like twinsies, waged a mad battle on Court 12 that went close to or past midnight (if memory serves; there were massive rain delays during the day, and we do remember it was pretty chilly).
Andreeva ended up winning 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and by the last pics in this slide show, you can see how thrilled she was.
In the third round, she dispatched Peyton Stearns.
Teaming up with doubles experience
Another 2024 moment was Andreeva teaming up with fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, who was sort of just returning to action after being out a long time with injury.
Andreeva was 17; Zvonareva would turn 40 in a few months.
The two made the quarterfinals together before they ended up withdrawing, with Andreeva still in singles and the schedule getting complicated.
Andreeva upset No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, before going down to Jasmine Paolini in the semis.
Here’s what this may-December pair looked like.
Two years on, she’s in the final.