Keep an eye out for Mirra Andreeva.
The 15-year-old’s stock surged further this weekend after she won the title as a qualifier on Swiss soil at W60 Chiasso in her first tournament of the year on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
Andreeva, a runner-up at the three junior events she has contested this year including the girls’ singles final at the Australian Open, went a step further at professional level on Swiss clay, defeating Celine Naef 1-6 7-6(3) 6-0 in Sunday’s final.
Remarkably, given her tender age, it is Andreeva’s second title at this level and sees her become the only player in ITF World Tennis Tour history to win multiple titles at ITF W60 level or above before turning 16.
In November, aged just 15 years, six months and six days, she became the third youngest player (after Mirjana Lucic and Sara Bejlek) to collect an ITF tournament at W60 level or higher after triumphing in Israel at W60 Meitar.
“It feels amazing,” Andreeva said of her latest triumph. “In the first set [Naef] played really great. I didn’t know what to do because her level was amazing. I tried everything. After I just tried to play more aggressive and more offensive tennis… and it worked.”
Andreeva rocketed 69 places in the WTA rankings on Monday to a career-high No. 243 as a result, with a place in Roland Garros qualifying firmly in her sights ahead of the ranking cut-off deadline at the turn of May.
“I’m not sure if I will get into qualies with this win, so I will try to do the best I can in Bellinzona next week,” she added, “But I’ll be really happy if I can manage to be in the qualies of Roland Garros.”
Andreeva, still a week shy of her 16th birthday, has collected her first five women’s titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour over the past 12 months but isn't overawed by her swift progress in the professional game. Her overriding focus is simply to take each match as it comes.
“My goals are always the same - to win everything that’s possible,” said the teen. “I’ll just try to do my best. Nothing will change if I’m 16 [years old] or 21. I will just do my best, and try my best on the court.”
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