Mirra Andreeva has been touted as The Next Big Thing, and she's delivering

WATCH: Mirra Andreeva Tries To "Copy" Rafael Nadal's Mentality

LONDON—Tennis is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. (If you bought an assortment box, that is.)

The first three points in the final game of teen sensation Mira Andreeva’s 6-2, 7-5 win at Wimbledon over Anastasia Potapova provided a Godiva-esque delight for the tennis neutrals.

Trying to close the third-round match out serving at 6-5, Andreeva’s drop shot lured her fellow Russian forward.

It gave Potapova ample time to deliver what felt like a point-defining, well-struck backhand approach down the line. The 16-year-old showed good wheels—Potapova knows a thing or two about that—to make her opponent hit the next ball.

Even Potapova might have conceded she should have ended matters there, but not doing so with her forehand smash only added to Andreeva’s growing reputation. The qualifier tossed up another high ball, and this time Potapova erred on a forehand smash off a defensive lob that was sent deep enough into the court to make it awkward.

Potapova then leveled—with a backhand crosscourt net cord winner that left Andreeva perplexed. But instead of, for example, striking the ball with disdain in frustration—as she did against Coco Gauff at Roland Garros when a point went against her—Andreeva paused for a second before resuming.

Then, after digging out a ball close to taking a second bounce with Potapova dictating, Andreeva stretched to engineer a wristy forehand that turned into a lob and dropped close to the baseline.

No call came, Potapova challenged and Hawk-Eye confirmed the correct decision was made—the ball caught half of the line—for 30-15. That all but sealed the fate of the 2016 Wimbledon junior winner.

“She’s a good player, for sure, there is no doubt,” Potapova, seeded 22nd, told TENNIS.com. “But maybe the luck was a bit of the difference because for me today it seemed like every ball was going a little bit wide or long. And for her she was catching the lines.”

Such can happen when momentum combines with the undoubted quality Andreeva possesses. Potapova wouldn’t have underestimated Andreeva, either, since she needed three sets—coming from a break down in the final set—to win last October at the WTA 250 in Monastir.

Andreeva became the youngest female player since a then 15-year-old Gauff in 2019 to make the fourth round at Wimbledon. That after becoming the third youngest player to win a main-draw match at a WTA 1000, in Madrid in May, Gauff one of those ahead of her.

Like Gauff during her life altering Wimbledon four years ago, the crowd is behind Amndreeva. Indeed, there weren’t many neutrals on Court 3 on a sunny midday in southwest London.

“I just feel the support from the crowd,” Andreeva told reporters. “When I win the point, I feel everyone is encouraging me, everyone is cheering for me, it really helps me a lot.”

Andreeva is popular, too, among the array of networks across the world covering the season’s third Grand Slam. Besides being put in the main interview room for the second consecutive round for the written press, broadcast requests came from Tennis Channel, BBC (UK), Nine Network (Australia), Wowow (Japan), Sky in Italy and Sky in Germany. They were granted.

Marketa Vondrousova, the 2019 French Open runner-up and Olympic silver medalist, won at around the same time. The gifted Czech didn’t attract as much interest from the networks.

The next big thing, or possible next big thing, is a narrative that never gets old. Having a sister who also plays adds to the intrigue. Andreeva had never competed on grass before qualifying, not even in the junior ranks. (Yes, she could still be playing juniors.) In one way, it might partially explain her incredible court coverage on the grass. While veterans could be wary of the dangers moving on the surface, Andreeva is working with a clean slate.

She is drawing inspiration from her idols. Andreeva name checked Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Ons Jabeur in recent months and cited another player Sunday who thrived at SW19, Rafael Nadal.

“I always admire Federer and he was always my favorite player,” said Andreeva. “But after Nadal, he won Roland Garros in 2022, I was really impressed because after an injury, he came back, he won the Australian Open, he won French Open.”

“After that, I can say that now mental-wise I just try sometimes to copy him. I just try to remember what would he do in these moments, what would he do on the score,” added Andreeva, who has saved 15 of 19 break points this fortnight. “Sometimes, yes, I can say that I copy him.”

What she's doing at 16 years old is just exceptional. It's one thing to play good tennis. It's another thing to win these matches kind of in a way back to back. Daniil Medvedev

At one stretch this season, Andreeva went 19-1 in all matches—and at different levels. A junior final at the Australian Open—she was devastated after losing to friend Alina Korneeva—was followed by back-to-back titles at 60K events in Switzerland.

Subsequently, Andreeva downed three players who made or would become Grand Slam semifinalists (at least) in Madrid in Leylah Fernandez, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette. Her Roland Garros and Wimbledon have further thrust her into the spotlight, with Netflix and fellow pros taking note.

“I didn’t see a lot of her matches, but I saw some,” said Grand Slam winner Daniil Medvedev, who formerly trained at Andreeva’s current base in the south of France. “What she's doing at 16 years old is just exceptional. It's one thing to play good tennis. It's another thing to win these matches kind of in a way back to back. It’s been already a lot of tournaments where she's passing quallies, making deep runs.

“That's amazing because that’s kind of why (Carlos) Alcaraz, (Jannik) Sinner, (Holger) Rune are amazing also. At a young age, you can make sensations, you can beat top guys, but to be able to go deep in these tournaments, it’s very tough.”

“For the moment, she seems like a very big thing coming, but we never know. Hopefully she can continue playing this way and continue to go further and further in Grand Slams, Masters, and best tournaments,” Medvedev said on Saturday.

A win for Andreeva against Eastbourne champ Madison Keys on Monday would make her the youngest Wimbledon women’s quarterfinalist since Anna Kournikova in 1997.

The other player younger than Andreeva to win a match at a WTA 1000? Cici Bellis. The American had to retire last year aged 22 due to an arm injury, and Kournikova stopped aged 21 in 2003 because of a back injury.

So, as Medvedev rightfully pointed out, one never does know what’s ahead.

But for now, the signs are promising for Andreeva.

Pass that box of chocolates.