Mirra Andreeva's marvelous Madrid run continues with upset over Linette

News. Data. Clues. Call those three words a trinity that underpins the inquiry when a teenager such as 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva surfaces on the pro tennis radar screen.

Begin with a marvelous Madrid continuing. Today, on her 16th birthday, the 194th-ranked Andreeva won her third match of the tournament, beating 17th-seeded Magda Linette, 6-3, 6-3. This came following straight-set victories versus a pair of accomplished lefties, ’21 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and 13th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Though those have been the first three Hologic WTA Tour main draw wins of her career, the high-quality tennis Andreeva has played this week might lead you to think she’s already a seasoned pro. “I know the way I can play on the court,” Andreeva told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj following the match. Versus Linette, Andreeva displayed an exemplary blend of precision and poise. In the first set, she captured Linette’s opening service game and swiftly went ahead 3-0. Then, after Linette got back on serve, Andreeva immediately broke again. From there, she won eight of nine points on her own delivery, closing out the set with a love hold at 5-3.

Andreeva applied further pressure to start the second set, dropping just one point in the first two games to go up 2-0. The only minor roadblock came when Andreeva served at 2-1 and had to fight off two break points. Serving at 3-5, Linette overcame one match point with a forehand winner. But two points later, she struck a crosscourt forehand wide, the match over in 86 minutes.

Linette, who earlier this year had a breakthrough run to the semis of the Australian Open, appeared too often to merely be hitting balls as in a drill rather than seeking to problem-solve her way through the rallies. Granted, that is not an easy task, as it’s quite difficult to determine the effectiveness and vulnerability of a new, yet increasingly formidable opponent. For Andreeva is now in one of those rare rich stages of a pro tennis player’s life: the period of initial rapid ascent, when improvement appears to happen by the minute.

Though Andreeva in January lost the Australian Open junior girls’ final, her ’23 match record as a pro is now 16-0. Earlier in April, she won a pair of ITF events in Switzerland. Andreeva’s next opponent in Madrid will be second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka. “I have nothing to lose,” said Andreeva. “I’ve got to just go there and show the best tennis I can. There is no pressure at all for me and there is just some pressure on her.”

One notable piece of preliminary data reveals that Andreeva has an older sister, 18-year-old Erika, who just this week reached a career-high ranking of No. 114. “Erika started at five or six, maybe even earlier, and since I'm her younger sister, I was always on the court, maybe since I was two,” Mirra told WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen earlier this week. “I was picking up some balls. But I started pretty late. I started at six.” Late? Really?

The Andreeva sisters first began tennis in Siberia and moved to Sochi for more tennis training. Then, after considering attending the Nadal Academy, they relocated to Cannes, France for work with coaches Jean-Christopher Faurel and Jean-Rene Lisnard.

Asked by Nguyen why she chose tennis, Andreeva said, “Actually, I didn't pick this sport. My mom did. I'm really happy that she did that because honestly, when my coaches give me five days to rest, I cannot even think [about] anything else [but] tennis. I'm really happy that my mom picked this sport because I feel that I really belong to this sport.”

Assume in time that more data will surface—the parents, the journey from Russia to France, the respective temperaments of each sister, off-court interests. Perhaps eventually, we’ll see a connection between Mirra Andreeva and three other tennis legends born on April 29, Andre Agassi and the twins, Bob and Mike Bryan.

But what about the clues? What are the deeper indicators? Consider the tennis. While Mirra considers Erika more a player in the vein of the powerful Iga Swiatek, her own stylistic role model is the crafty Ons Jabeur, favoring a game of guile and variety. Though versus Linette, Andreeva hardly drop-shotted with the frequency of Jabeur—who does?—she unquestionably has an appetite for tactical thinking, an eclecticism and court sense also reminiscent of Martina Hingis.

In many a rally in today’s match, Andreeva lofted the ball high, deep and crosscourt to set up the chance to crack one of her favorite shots, a powerful down-the-line backhand. She also hit a range of volleys, both the classic one with the lower edge of the frame nicely angled, as well as the more contemporary swing volley that at heart is simply a groundstroke in the air. Andreeva backed up her serve well too, winning an impressive 67 percent of her second serve points.

And here’s another clue. In the finals of her first ITF title run, Andreeva rallied to beat world No. 265 Celine Naef, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0. The next week, versus Naef in the semis, Andreeva won much more comfortably, 6-1, 6-4. This suggests a studious quality, a sense that Andreeva pays close attention to each opponent and how she should go about the business of breaking up their game. “I just tried to cut the rhythm a lot,” said Andreeva about her strategy for playing Linette.

Andreeva’s approach reminds me of the court-savvy coach Judy Murray and the one word that matters most to her when working with a player: trouble. As Murray has often said, “Make trouble. Get out of trouble. Avoid trouble.” No doubt, Andreeva will need to rigorously apply all three of those principles versus Sabalenka. Up against tennis’ most recent Grand Slam champion, it will be fascinating to see how Andreeva’s news, data, and clues all come into play.