LONDON (Reuters) – Mirra Andreeva’s fairytale Wimbledon debut came to an end after the 16-year-old Russian was beaten 3-6 7-6(4) 6-2 by Madison Keys, who battled back from a set and a break down to win the fourth-round tie on Monday.
World number 102 Andreeva, who was looking to become the youngest player to reach the last eight of the grasscourt Grand Slam since Anna Kournikova in 1997, fought valiantly against Keys but was ultimately overwhelmed by the experienced American.
The 28-year-old Keys began the match in typically aggressive fashion, firing off powerful returns and groundstrokes to break serve and go 2-0 ahead.
However, Andreeva broke back immediately courtesy of a lucky net cord before showing great variation to upset Keys’ rhythm, making her opponent uncomfortable with slices and drop shots as she broke twice more in quick succession to take the opener.
Keys continue to commit a stream of unforced errors as Andreeva raced to a 3-0 lead in the second, but the 25th seed upped her game, putting the match back on serve with a delicate left-handed winner and forcing a tiebreak, which she won.
The breaker seemed to take the wind out of Andreeva’s sails. Keys stormed into an early 2-0 lead in the third set after the Russian double faulted in her opening service game, before finishing off her opponent in a shade over two hours.
In her second quarter-final at Wimbledon, Keys will face either second-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka or another Russian in Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 21st seed.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
