Mirra Andreeva's Madrid magic from 2023 has made a return engagement in 2024.
The 16-year-old Andreeva stormed into the Mutua Madrid Open Round of 16 for the second straight year, clinching that spot with a 7-5, 6-1 upset of No.7 seed Marketa Vondrousova, the reigning Wimbledon champion.
Andreeva needed just 1 hour and 15 minutes to dismiss Vondrousova on Sunday and notch the second Top 10 win of her career. Andreeva's first Top 10 win came over Ons Jabeur in the second round of this year's Australian Open, which she also pulled off in straight sets.
As a wild card last year in Madrid, Andreeva romped into the Round of 16 in her breakthrough event ranked No.194. Since then, Andreeva has skyrocketed into the Top 50, peaking at No.33, and was named last season's WTA Newcomer of the Year.
2 - Mirra Andreeva has become the second player this Century to defeat a top-10 opponent on clay court before turning 17, after Nicole Vaidisova (Charleston 2005 vs Anastasia Myskina). Gleam.#MMOPEN | @MutuaMadridOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/QqXJ81EYKn
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) April 28, 2024
Sunday's match was a challenge for the teenager at first. Vondrousova lost her serve three times in a row and trailed 4-1, but the Czech Wimbledon champion reeled off four straight games to move ahead 5-4.
However, Andreeva reclaimed her break lead at 6-5, and she dominated from there, winning nine of the last 10 games in total. Andreeva closed out the match with a 7-for-12 break point conversion rate.
Andreeva has now racked up eight match-wins at WTA 1000 events in her career thus far -- the most by any player before turning 17 years old since the WTA 1000 tier started in 2009.
No matter what, though, this was Andreeva's final win as a 16-year-old -- she turns 17 on Monday, when she will face No.12 seed Jasmine Paolini in the Round of 16.
Paolini cruised past No.21 seed Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday. Garcia had won five of their six previous meetings, but Paolini continues to show that she has improved dramatically in 2024.
Italy's Paolini won her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai in February, and she currently sits at a career-high ranking of No.13 after starting the year ranked No.29.
Paolini had never won a match in Madrid before this year, but she is racing through this week's draw. After her first-round bye, Paolini routed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva in 59 minutes in the second round, and it took her only 63 minutes to beat Garcia on Sunday.
No.10 seed Daria Kasatkina and unseeded Yulia Putintseva also notched third-round wins on Sunday, and they will face each other in the Round of 16 on Monday. Kasatkina won their only previous meeting, in the 2018 Wimbledon second round by 6-2, 6-3.
Kasatkina defeated No.20 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two tight sets, 7-6(5), 7-5. It took Kasatkina 1 hour and 52 minutes to pick up her fifth win in seven meetings with Pavlyuchenkova.
Kasatkina and Pavlyuchenkova came into their showdown with identical 17-9 win-loss records in 2024. It was Kasatkina who recorded her 18th win of the season, fending off 40 winners by Pavlyuchenkova in the match. Kasatkina is a win away from matching her 2018 run to the Madrid quarterfinals.
Putintseva eased past Caroline Dolehide 6-2, 6-2 in 67 minutes on Sunday, moving into the Madrid Round of 16 for the first time since 2019. Putintseva faced only one break point in the match and never dropped serve.
After a February Middle East swing where she never got out of qualifying, Putintseva rebounded during March's Sunshine Double, making the Indian Wells fourth round and the Miami quarterfinals. Putintseva's ranking improved from No.80 to No.50 in a six-week span.
