THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — The crowning moment of Mirra Andreeva’s career came less than a month ago, when she fulfilled what had long been fated for her and won her first Grand Slam tournament.
On Wednesday, she joined another illustrious club. The No. 5 seed became yet another French Open champion to come up short at the following Wimbledon when the 19-year-old Russian lost 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a second-round match against 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková on Centre Court, becoming the first of the top-five-seeded women’s players to fall out of the draw.
Blame the quick few weeks that separate the tournaments and leave clay-court mavens little time to acclimate to grass, much less bask in their Roland Garros accomplishment before easing back into practice. Andreeva had it doubly hard: She had to rebound quickly from her French Open win and drew a two-time Grand Slam champion in the second round in Krejčíková, who won the French Open in 2021.
No, Krejčíková didn’t win those titles back-to-back. No woman has done that since Serena Williams in 2015.
But the 30-year-old was a sleeper threat lurking in the draw. Her angular game and experience make her a threat on Wimbledon’s lawns, and she arrived at the year’s third Grand Slam with a few good wins under her belt on grass. She made it to the final of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in the Netherlands, a WTA 250-level tournament, before she pulled out because of illness ahead of facing American Robin Montgomery.
On Wednesday, she put her serve to work — she had nine aces — and got Andreeva on the move from the first ball of every point.
The Russian is one of the more athletic players on tour, but Krejčíková paired her well-placed serve with her eclectic toolkit and pulled Andreeva around the court for every bit of the nearly three-hour match, prompting poor strategic decisions and enough errors in big moments to gain an advantage. She was also often better at finishing points than Andreeva.
Still, there were hints of growth for the recent French Open champion, who earlier this season spent plenty of matches self-immolating when her emotions got the best of her. When Krejčíková broke to take a 4-2 lead in the second set, Andreeva showed no signs of strain, aside from the ragged breathing she used to recover between exhausting points.
She stood tough mentally. Andreeva played excellent defense to outlast Krejčíková in the ninth game, saving six match points, to break back and earn a chance to even the match on her powerful serve.
No matter. Krejčíková returned to being the aggressor. She swatted a forehand down the line at deuce to force an error on a lob from Andreeva and earned her seventh match point of the evening. Finally, Andreeva sent an awkward forehand long and packed her bags, throwing her racket to the side of the court.
Krejčíková faces her countrywoman Nikola Bartůňková in the third round.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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