Playing the first Grand Slam event of her career at Roland Garros, 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva completed a successful qualifying campaign by defeating No.1 seed Camila Osorio 7-6(8), 6-4 to reach the main draw.
Andreeva was unranked just 14 months ago, but has risen to No.143 after winning two ITF W60 titles and reaching the last 16 in Madrid in the past two months. She is the youngest player in the Top 300, and her 2023 pro record now stands at 20-2. Roland Garros will be her third tour-level main draw.
Osorio had also been in fine clay-court form, having reached the third round in Madrid and fourth round in Rome to return to the Top 100. The match lived up to expectations, particularly in a razor-tight first set in which both players showed off subtle, tactical tennis in their efforts to out-smart each other.
The first of many 👏
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 25, 2023
16-year-old Mirra Andreeva earns a maiden Grand Slam main draw ticket with her victory over top seed Camila Osório 7-6(8), 6-4.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/RfzqCeIc9K
The Colombian started faster, building a 3-0 lead before Andreeva responded to win four straight games. Osorio took three of the next four games, and held the first set point of the set at 6-5 -- only to net a drop shot.
That shot was both the World No.84's strength and undoing. In an overtime tiebreak filled with absorbing rallies, Osorio saved a second set point against her with an absurdly angled dropper -- but, facing a third, netted another one.
The second set was almost as close, and Andreeva trailed by the first break at 3-2. But the teenager was in full flow with pinpoint lobs and drop shots of her own, as well as a superb reflex volley to break for 5-3. She was unable to serve the match out, but broke Osorio to claim her fourth Top 100 win and a place in her first major main draw.
Yastremska, Mandlik, In-Albon triumph in barnburners: Three-set nailbiters dominated the remainder of Day 4's action as six of the 16 qualifiers were decided. Former World No.21 Dayana Yastremska closed out action with a valiant 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 defeat of No.25 seed Greet Minnen in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
Minnen seemed to have a stranglehold on the contest when she came through seven deuces, saving two break points, to hold for 3-0 in the third set. But the 23-year-old Ukrainian found her power game -- and several key volleys -- to overturn that deficit and win six of the last seven games.
Forty-two years after Hana Mandlikova's 1981 Roland Garros triumph, her daughter Elizabeth Mandlik battled into her first main draw in Paris. No.10 seed Mandlik overcame No.22 seed Laura Pigossi 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 29 minutes, holding off a determined late comeback attempt by the 2022 Bogota finalist.
Mandlik qualified for a Grand Slam main draw for the first time, having contested the 2022 US Open as a wild card and the 2023 Australian Open as a lucky loser.
No.21 seed Ylena In-Albon also broke new ground by navigating Grand Slam qualifying. The 24-year-old Swiss had made her major main draw debut as a direct entrant to Wimbledon 2022, and came from 4-2 down in the third set to defeat No.11 seed Nao Hibino 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Shymanovich, Day win super-tiebreaks: Two matches on Day 4 involved super-tiebreaks and exceeded the three-hour mark. No.211-ranked Iryna Shymanovich had only contested one tour-level main draw before -- as a lucky loser at Cleveland 2022 -- but held off Mai Hontama 6-2, 3-6, 7-6[4] in 3 hours and 17 minutes.
Shymanovich, 25, held her first three match points at 5-4 in the third set on Hontama's serve, but showed fortitude to stave off a determined comeback attempt by the Japanese player.
No.26 seed Kayla Day returned to a Grand Slam main draw for the first time since the 2017 US Open with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6[7] win over No.15 seed Elina Avanesyan in 3 hours and 7 minutes. The American lost the first set from 4-2 up, won the second from 2-0 down and won the third from both 5-3 down, then 4-1 down in the super-tiebreak.
Day, 23, reached the third round of Indian Wells 2017 and took Garbiñe Muguruza to three sets there as a 17-year-old. By 2021, though, her ranking had fallen outside the Top 500. After winning the Bonita Springs ITF W100 this month, she is back up to No.138, just 16 places beneath her career high of No.122. This week marks her first entry into a Grand Slam main draw without a wild card.