BEIJING -- Seventeenth seed Mirra Andreeva advanced to the China Open Round of 16 with a resilient effort to defeat Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Monday night.
The win sets up an Olympic rematch with Poland's Magda Linette, who notched the biggest upset of the week so far in Bejing, defeating No.3 seed Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-0. Linette knocked Andreeva out of the Olympics in the first round.
Beijing: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
"I know that it will be a hard and solid match," Andreeva told WTA Insider in Beijing. "I know she goes for it, she runs for the balls, she doesn't miss by herself a lot. Maybe she changed something from Olympics, but I will look back to that match to see what I did wrong and what she did good to try and make her uncomfortable this time.
"I practice with her a lot and we know each other pretty good, so I think it will be a little bit hard for both of us mentally."
12 - Since 2000, only three U18 players have claimed more WTA top 20 wins than Mirra Andreeva (12), who has now surpassed Coco Gauff (11) over that span with victory over Donna Vekic. Company.#ChinaOpen | @ChinaOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/c4uMfgnzhy
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) September 30, 2024
The mental side of the game is where Andreeva made great strides in her 2-hour and 29-minute win over Vekic. Facing the Croatian for the first time, Andreeva admitted to being unprepared for the 16th seed's unique ball.
"I knew that she would be very aggressive, she would take the ball on the rise and she would go for it," Andreeva said. "But her shots were pretty heavy and they were hard to play. I thought it would be more flat, but it turns out she plays with spin. When she takes her forehand it's very dangerous. When she steps in and takes her forehand, it just flies away and you cannot reach it."
Andreeva was broken three times in the opening set, but after taking a toilet break to reset herself, the 17-year-old steeled herself for a comeback. She had already comeback from a set down in her opening win over Irina-Camelia Begu, losing just two games in the last two sets of her opener, and she reminded herself there was no reason she could not do it again.
"I will be honest, I didn't have even one moment when I was frustrated or negative with myself and I think that's a big improvement from me," Andreeva said. "Even in my first match, there was a lot of negative.
"So I would agree that this is one of the most mature matches I played this year."
Head to Head
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No.45 Linette earned her fifth career Top 10 by defeating No.5 Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the China Open on Monday. Linette is the second Polish player to book a spot in the fourth round, joining No.31 Magdalena Frech, who defeated 12th seed Diana Shnaider in the third round on Sunday.
Linette, 32, advanced to her second consecutive Beijing Round of 16, having made the same stage last year, where she lost to Polish No.1 Iga Swiatek. She will next play either 16th seed Donna Vekic or 17th seed Mirra Andreeva for a place in her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
Facing Paolini for the third time, Linette successfully avenged her 6-4,6-1 loss to the Italian in the same round at the Paris Olympics. Both players generated nine break-point chances, but Linette saved seven while Paolini could only dodge three. Riding her solid serving performance, Linette sealed the win after 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Paolini entered Beijing hoping to lock up qualification for her first WTA Finals Riyadh this week. She sits at No.4 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals behind Elena Rybakina, who has withdrawn from the Asian swing due to injury.
Beijing has proven a strong week for the Polish contingent. Before Linette notched the upset of the tournament, Frech continued her outstanding season with a physical pair of wins to make her second WTA 1000 Round of 16 of the year.
Frech, 26, came into Bejing at her career-high ranking of No.31 after winning her first Hologic WTA Tour title in Guadalajara. After beating Alycia Parks in the second round, she ousted Shnaider for her third Top 20 win of the year to bring her active win streak to seven matches.
She will face Zhang Shuai in the fourth round on Tuesday for a spot in her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
