London [UK]: The 16-year-old qualifier Mirra Andreeva cruised into third round of Wimbledon in her debut appearance as Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday retired due to a left leg injury.
Andreeva was leading No.10 seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 4-0 on Thursday when the Czech player retired due to a left leg injury. “It’s not the way I wanted to win the match, of course. She had some problems with her foot. Of course, I wish her a speedy recovery,” Andreeva said in her post-match press conference as quoted by WTA.com.
World No.102 Andreeva advanced to the third round at Wimbledon as Krejcikova was forced to retire from their highly anticipated match after precisely one hour of play.
“It is my first experience on grass. It’s just my fifth match. I like the grass so far. I’m not playing that bad. I met Andy Murray here. But I’m too shy to talk to him. When I see him, I try to leave the facility super quick just to not to talk to him because I’m super shy,” Andreeva said.
A handicapped Krejcikova would undoubtedly struggle against Andreeva’s tenacious play. The adolescent combined strong groundstroke play with excellent court defence, running down nearly every ball the Czech sent her way.
Andreeva got her first break of the day, leading 4-3, after chasing down a Krejcikova drop shot and hitting back a backhand passing winner. Andreeva made the same play on the opening point of the 5-3 game, resulting in a second consecutive service break and a one-set lead.
Another passing winner gave Andreeva a 2-0 lead in the second set, as the ailing Krejcikova struggled to keep up with the teen’s game. In the shortened meeting, Andreeva never encountered a break point.
“I will just do my best. If I can advance to the Round of 16, I will be super happy. If I can advance to the semifinal, I will be of course super happy. I will just try to do my best, then we will see what will I do. But honestly I don’t have any goals. I just play,” Andreeva said.
In the third round, Andreeva will meet either No.22 seed Anastasia Potapova or another qualifier, Kaja Juvan.
