Andreeva, Stuttgart fans sing 'Happy Birthday' to Conchita Martinez
Mirra Andreeva and Conchita Martinez have one of the sweetest player-coach relationships on the WTA Tour, and fans were reminded of that in Stuttgart on Thursday.
After Andreeva's 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Alycia Parks, the 18-year-old informed the crowd in Porsche Arena that today is Martinez's birthday, and she led the fans in a singing of Happy Birthday.
Martinez laughed and gestured a heart sign to Andreeva as she began her rendition, which sounded great. (We especially liked the part when Andreeva said "Dear Conchie.")
Andreeva and fans singing for Martinez has become something of a tradition in Stuttgart, after Andreeva did it for the first time here last year.
After the match, the recent Linz champion said she has a big gift planned for Martinez, but it won't arrive until the Mutua Madrid Open next week. But Andreeva didn't leave her empty-handed. She came equipped with flowers and candies to hold her over, before the real gift is presented.
"The main gift is coming to Madrid because I didn't have time to buy it before," the World No. 9 said in her post-match press conference. "My mom is going to buy it for me. She's going to call me, and we're going to choose the gift together. I already have an idea of what I want to give her, but today is just for a little bit of attention.
"Just some flowers and some little candies, so she feels like it's still her birthday without a real gift."
Andreeva has now won six straight matches after beating Jelena Ostapenko and Parks this week, and her next test will be third-seeded Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals on Friday. Swiatek, playing her first tournament with new coach Francisco Roig, defeated Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.
"I will just try to talk with Conchita," Andreeva said when asked about the match. "Obviously she's a great player, but I'll just approach this match as every other match that I had before. Obviously she's had a good history on clay, so I'm just very curious to see how it's gonna go.
"Obviously this is clay indoors, so it's still a little bit different. But yeah, I'm kind of excited to see how this match will go on a clay court for the first time."
Andreeva has taken two of her three matches against Swiatek, including the last two in Dubai and Indian Wells last year. But as Andreeva mentioned, this will be their first match on clay.