Mirra Andreeva defeated Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells, and will next face Iga Swiatek. However, the Russian isn’t taking anything for granted, after having beat the Pole in her previous event.
The 17-year-old is now on a 10-match winning streak, the first women’s player under the age of 18 to reach such a feat since Nicole Vaidisova in 2005.
Andreeva won her second – and, by far, the biggest – title of her career in February, at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai.
Along the way, she became the first woman since Maria Sharapova in 2004 to beat three Grand Slam champions at the same event.
“I started to feel it [the confidence] during the tournament in Dubai, but I can say that I got a little help from my sports psychologist that I’m still working with,” stated Andreeva.
“I can say that, you know, it helped me a lot to realize a lot of things and to change something in the way I think during the match or before the match. Also, it helps me to go in the match with the right mindset, and, you know, I think that that was kind of the key for me.
“I can say that it’s working. It’s not bad. So I’m just super happy that I can see the result.”
One of those such Grand Slam champions was Swiatek, herself, who Andreeva defeated 6-3, 6-3 with a stunning performance.
“Yeah, of course it’s always nice to beat a top player. It was my first win over her,” said the Russian, when asked about her semi-final.
“You know, it doesn’t give me any benefit to our match tomorrow, because what happened happened, and the past is in the past.
“Tomorrow is going to be a new day, new match, new conditions, new country. Everything is different.
“You know, I’m going to try my best to prepare in the best way for our match tomorrow, and I’m sure that the match is going to be great, because our head-to-head is 1-All. I think it’s going to be an entertaining match, and we’re just going to see who is going to be better tomorrow.”
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Meanwhile, Swiatek already gained some ‘revenge’ over another rival – Zheng Qinwen – who she fell to in a heartbreaking semi-final match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s not nice to lose to anybody, so for sure you want to have a little, I don’t know, like revenge, but it’s nothing personal. I think every player has that against everybody who they lose to before,” said the five-time Grand Slam champion.
“This was the only match that I lost against Qinwen and I wanted to learn from it, it didn’t really cross my mind that much, because I knew that this is on hard court and I knew what I did wrong in the Olympics.
“Honestly, I would say that clay didn’t help me on the Olympics, because these high spinny balls that came into place, it’s much easier to go forward and to play them when you know exactly how the ball is going to bounce. On clay, you can’t really do that.
“For sure, it was tricky then. Here I thought it’s going to be more clear, and that’s what happened.”
The post ‘What happened, happened’ – Candid Mirra Andreeva analyses Iga Swiatek semi-final appeared first on Tennis365.
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