By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Mirra Andreeva dug deep into her reserves to defeat Frenchwoman Diane Parry at the Australian Open on Friday and the 16-year-old was thrilled to catch the attention of one of her idols, saying she would print and frame Andy Murray’s words of praise.
In a rematch of their French Open second-round meeting last year, which Andreeva won comfortably, the teenager appeared close to tears as she went 5-1 down in the decider and was one point away from defeat before battling to a 1-6 6-1 7-6(5) win.
The Russian, who burst onto the scene as with stunning wins in Madrid last year, had also grabbed headlines by describing Murray as “beautiful”, to which the Briton jokingly responded that Andreeva should get her eyes checked.
Murray hailed Andreeva’s mental strength in Friday’s match.
“Andreeva down 5-1 in third. Commentator ‘she really needs to work on mental side of her game. She’s too hard on herself when she’s losing’ … 30 minutes later 7-6 Andreeva wins,” Murray posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Maybe the reason she turned the match round is because of her mental strength. Maybe she turned the match around because she is hard on herself and demands more of herself when she’s losing/playing badly? Winner.”
Andreeva said she did not expect Murray to watch her match, much less comment about it.
“I’ll try to print it out somehow,” Andreeva said. “I don’t know, I’ll put it in a frame. I’ll bring it everywhere with me. I’ll maybe put it on the wall so I can see it everyday.”
She also agreed with Murray’s assessment about her performance against Parry.
“I won the last time I played her,” Andreeva said. “I had an advantage. I felt that maybe I should win, because I won pretty easy on the score. Maybe I should win this match. When you think like this, it always happens, like 1-6 in the first set.
“Then I decided to fight to win one game at a time. Maybe being harsh on myself actually helped me. I don’t know. I just try to think positively. This harshness, let’s say, helped me with it because I’m not positive in my head usually.
“I kept pushing myself, saying not good words to myself.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; editing by Miral Fahny)
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