At the Open Capfinances Rouen Métropole, the WTA 250 tournament in France, 16-year old Mirra Andreeva dropped just 4 games to beat Nadia Podoroska, while Sloane Stephens, Karolina Pliskova, and Magda Linette also made it safely into round 2 on Monday.
I cannot say I didn’t win a match for a long time, but I lost two matches in a row,. So this victory was important to me. I’m very happy with my level overall. Mirra Andreeva
Andreeva is trialling a new coaching partnership with former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez, who previously worked with former World No 1s Pliskova and Garbiñe Muguruza.
In her first clay-court match of the season, and her first since Indian Wells, after arm tendonitis concerns prompted a 5-week break, the 5th seed dispatched Argentina’s Podoroska, 6-1 6-3, in just 75 minutes..
Andreeva said on social media that she was exercising caution around the wrist problem, in the hopes of ‘get[ting] stronger and be[ing] ready for the clay season’.
She returned to the tour without missing a beat, cruising to a comfortable win over the former Roland Garros semi-finalist in the 1st-round of the indoor clay-court event, marking her first win since the 3rd-round of the Australian Open.
“I didn’t win a match for a long time, and this victory was important for me,” Andreeva said afterwards. “I’m very happy with my level today, and my performance.”
Andreeva said that she had begun working with Martinez ‘two to three weeks ago’ after being connected via her agent.
“So far, so good,” said Andreeva, “I like it, I hope she likes it too.
“We will see how it will go and then we will decide about our next tournaments. I cannot say there are special aspects we are working on. But the first thing we worked on was my slice, because she was a good slicer.
“So she told me some tricks, and I’m trying to use it ,when I have time and a good possibility on court.”
Mirra Andreeva is working with Conchita Martinez on a trial basis in Rouen
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She showed little sign of rust against Podoroska, particularly in an outstanding first set in which she won 18 of the first 21 points in a flurry of winners off both wings, as well as at the net.
The teenager came through a 4-deuce hold, saving 3 break points, for 5-1 in the first set, snuffing out any hope Podoroska had of shifting the momentum.
In the second, Andreeva broke for the first time with a sharply angled pass for 4-2, and though Podoroska broke back immediately, a clean return winner put the young Russian in front again for 5-3.
Four consecutive winners, consisting of a smash, an ace and 2 drop-shots, sealed her first match win since Melbourne.
“I cannot say I didn’t win a match for a long time, but I lost two matches in a row,” Andreeva said in her on-court interview. “So this victory was important to me. I’m very happy with my level overall.”
The contest was the pair’s second meeting, and took place exactly one year after their first, in the 2023 Chiasso ITF W60 semi-finals when Andreeva also conceded just 4 games as part of the 16-match winning streak she put together on clay last year.
Andreeva’s 2023 break-through began on the red dirt, when, as a wild-card entry in Madrid, she reached the 4th-round, and she also reached the 3rd-round in Paris, where she won the first set against Coco Gauff before losing in 3 sets.
The teenager is still limited in the number of WTA-level tournaments she can play in a calendar year due to the WTA’s age-eligibility rules.
Against Podoroska, though, who made the Last 4 in Paris as a qualifier in 2020, she showed no apparent physical concerns, and although the second set proved a tighter affair, it became similarly routine as the first.
After the first 6 games went with serve, Andreeva broke twice in the final 4 games, and won the last 7 points.
“Now it’s good,” Andreeva said of her wrist. “We’ve made a lot of good work with my physios, and now I don’t feel any pain or discomfort.”
Andreeva will play either her Russian compatriot, Elina Avanesyan, or qualifier Fiona Ferro from France in the 2nd-round, while potential quarter-final opponents include No 3 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and wild-card Naomi Osaka, the former World No 1 and 4-times Grand Slam champion from Japan.
Sloane Stephens bounced back from a rough opening set to defeat Peyton Stearns in Rouen
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Also on Monday, Sloane Stephens bounced back from a rough opening set to defeat Peyton Stearns, 1-6 6-1 6-3, in an all-American 1st-round match.
Stearns’ serve dominated the opening set, winning 18 of her 24 total service points, and broke Stephens twice.
Stephens used a 3-0 start to the second to get back into the match before fending off Stearns late in the third, converting 6 of 11 break-point overall.
Her next opponent will be Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who also needed 3 sets on Monday to defeat Russia’s Polina Kudermetova, 7-5 1-6 7-5, the younger sister of Veronika.
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Caroline Garcia from France are the top two seeds in Rouen.
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