Teenager Andreeva shuts out Swiatek

DUBAI: Fast is Mirra Andreeva's pace. And on a day when the sun was out and the ball sat up the 17-year-old was letting it rip, nailing her spots, and in doing so, she took time away from her opponent Iga Swiatek, the world No.2.
The 14th ran ked Russi an didn't put a foot wrong on court in the Dubai Duty Free tennis championship quarterfinals, not even when she trailed 1-3 in the second set. The Pole, a five-time major winner, sizzled on her returns in the third game, where she broke the teen for the only time in the match. Andreeva, who had 10 aces, saved seven of eight breakpoint chances, to score a 6-3, 6-3 upset win in 97 minutes.
Thursday's result was the Russian's fifth top-10 win of her career, and the second against a top-two player, following her defeat of Aryna Sabalenka in last year's Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Andreeva, articulate as her shots are telling, noted that the difference between her and the elite pros was experience; the teenager turned to her coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, to level the playing field.
"I know that no matter what's happening on the court, they (top player s) are always going to play their best tennis, and they're going to keep up their level throughout the whole match. That's the main difficulty for players that are lower ranked," Andreeva said.
"I tell myself to fight for every ball, doesn't matter what's happening on the court," she said. "I knew if I don't play aggressive she's going to go and kill me. Everybody knows that she likes to take the ball early, she doesn't give time to her opponents. She always tries to be the first one to attack. My game plan was to play my game, sometimes I just forced myself to be more aggressive."
Martinez chalks the strategy Andreeva brings to the court. "If she didn't give me great advice and tactics I don't think I would be playing at such a high level," Andreeva said of the 52-year-old Spaniard, who is a calming presence at courtside. "We take about 15 to 20 minutes to talk about the match, set up the game plan. For example, today I played at 2 (pm), we spoke at 1. It's all still fresh in my head (when I go on court)."
Swiatek, who usually has a strong couple of weeks in the WTA events in the Middle East, wasn't at her best this time, falling in the semifinals to Jelena Ostapenko in Doha, and in the last-eight here in Dubai, where she looked out of sorts. The world No.2 had 31 unforced errors in the match on Thursday.
"I'm not happy with the results. I feel like I under-performed," she said of the two weeks in Doha and Dubai. "I need to talk with my team and plan the next weeks a bit differently because I haven't had much time to practice before these tournaments. I felt that there were some things missing (with my tennis) that should have been there."
"I wasn't really sure where my ball is going to go," a visibly upset Swiatek said of the match. "I wasn't as precise as I should be. Mirra is a good player. It's not like I can win against her when I play worse." Andreeva, looking to r each her first WTA 1000 final, will go up against sixth seed Elena Rybakina in the semifinals on Friday. Andreeva trails the Kazakh 0-1 in head-to head clashes.