Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva focused as WTA ranking rises
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Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva is only 17, but she will be in the top 10 of the rankings after Indian Wells.
PHOTO: AFP
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INDIAN WELLS – Mirra Andreeva’s rise in the WTA rankings has accelerated so quickly that the 17-year-old Russian cannot keep track.
She cracked the top 10 – reaching No. 9 – when she triumphed in Dubai in February to become the youngest-ever WTA 1000 champion, beating Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina along the way.
The teenager was ranked 11th when she arrived at Indian Wells but, after beating Rybakina again in the fourth round and topping Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals, she will be headed back to the top 10 again.
She was not aware because she was not paying very close attention, unlike in 2024, when she had been promised she could get a dog if she broke into the top 20.
“Before, I was always checking live rankings because I was playing for a dog,” Andreeva said. “So after every match I play I would check the live rankings to see if I did it.”
The top-20 breakthrough came after she beat Magda Linette in Beijing last October, and she is still deciding exactly what kind of dog to get.
“I’m thinking to get an ultra-mini labradoodle,” she said. “It’s going to be a labrador mixed with poodle and it’s ultra mini, so going to be even smaller than a mini version.
“It’s going to take time until the dog that I want will be born.”
In the meantime, she is less focused on her ranking and more “on the match I have to play”.
Andreeva will have a chance to back up another big win when she faces defending champion Swiatek in the Indian Wells semi-finals on March 14 (March 15, Singapore time), although she knows her unexpected triumph in Dubai “doesn’t give me any benefit to our match”.
The youngster, who said she takes inspiration from sporting greats ranging from Roger Federer to LeBron James, added that tennis has gradually become a more serious affair for her.
“When I was a bit younger it would all be about having fun,” she said. “But now I start to understand that it’s pretty serious what I do out here.
“I feel like when I have fun on the court I play great tennis, so I still try to not be super, super serious but also to have fun a little bit.”
Swiatek, meanwhile, beat Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-3 on March 13, avenging her Paris semi-final loss to the Olympic Games gold medallist to reach the last four.
There is also another semi-final grudge match as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka takes on Australian Open champion Madison Keys – who denied the Belarusian’s bid for a third straight title in Melbourne. AFP
