Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva was already a tennis phenom at age 15.
At 19, she’s a Grand Slam champion.
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The eighth-ranked Andreeva ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska by 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open final on Saturday.
Andreeva became the youngest player to win the women’s singles title since Monica Seles, who was 18 when she landed her third straight French Open in 1992.
“You’re so young and talented. It’s so annoying,” Chwalinska told Andreeva during the awards ceremony.
When Andreeva executed a backhand cross-court winner on her first match point, she threw her racket into the air and dropped on her knees to the clay to celebrate.
During the trophy presentation, Andreeva took the unusual step of thanking herself “for believing in myself, always giving my 100 percent, even when it’s tough, trying every day to be better as a person and as a player, believing that I can do this, fighting so many demons inside of me.
“Only I know how tough it was for me,” Andreeva added. “How nervous I was throughout these two weeks.”
Chwalinska was attempting to become the first qualifier to capture the Roland Garros title.
Andreeva was born Siberia, moved to Sochi, and eventually France, to develop her tennis career.
She drew a loud applause from the crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier when she spoke a few words of French during the trophy presentation.
“Thanks for your support today and over these past two marvellous weeks here in Paris,” Andreeva said. “It was very important for me.”
Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli in the men’s final on Sunday to conclude the wildest Grand Slam in recent memory.
Andreeva has been considered a Grand Slam contender since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old at the 2023 Madrid Open, where she became the third youngest player to win a main draw match at a WTA 1000 tournament and made the quarterfinals.
Lately, Andreeva has had to contend with playing under neutral status and without her country’s flag due to the war with Ukraine.
When she beat Marta Kostyuk in the semifinals, Kostyuk refused to shake her hand, as has been the custom for Ukrainian players facing Russians ever since the war started in 2022.
Andreeva has gone a step further than her coach, Conchita Martinez, who lost the 2000 French Open final to Mary Pierce.
Pierce presented the winner’s trophy to Andreeva.
The final was played under mostly sunny skies, but wind was a factor in the first Grand Slam final for both players.
Chwalinska double-faulted on the opening point of the match, but she was the first player to hold serve in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.
But then Andreeva won nine straight games to take control as she found a way to hit through the wind and answer Chwalinska’s array of spins and drop shots.
Andreeva produced 25 winners to Chwalinska’s 10 and also had fewer unforced errors: 26 to 29.
There was a strong Polish presence in the crowd.
When Chwalinska was introduced, fans held aloft red-and-white Polish flags and chanted her name: “Ma-ja, Ma-ja.”
Andreeva had little support from the crowd, although there was a shout of “Davai Mirra!” (“Go Mirra”) in Russian late in the match. In men’s doubles, top-seeded Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos retained their title with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
<small>Source: Al Jazeera</small>
