Tennis: Andreeva Advances With Momentum, Raducanu Progresses Steadily In Rome

Patience is not always a virtue inherent in teenagers.

And Mirra Andreeva, who turned 18 at the end of April, has been in a hurry for all of her short professional life. She was the youngest player to crash the PIF WTA Rankings Top 10 in nearly two decades and recently won back-to-back WTA 1000s. Unapologetically aggressive, Andreeva is third on tour in winners — but also has struck the most unforced errors.

Ultimately, the No. 7-seeded Andreeva crafted a 6-2 6-4 second-round victory over qualifier Emiliana Arango
on Friday at the Internazionali d’Italia. It probably took longer than she would have liked (89 minutes), but it was Andreeva’s first main-draw win in Rome.

“She likes to grind and she puts a lot of balls back in the court,” Andreeva said later of Arango. “For me, I find it not so comfortable — it’s not like I have a choice. I have to create something on the court.”

A little later, a former teenage phenomenon — in another testament to patience — won her first match in the Eternal City. Since winning the 2021 US Open, injuries and illness have been the leading headlines for Emma Raducanu, but she was a tidy 6-2, 6-2 winner over lucky loser Jil Teichmann.

Previously, Raducanu’s only appearance in Rome was a 2022 match that ended in retirement to Bianca Andreescu. She said it was the last time she played a match on outdoor clay — a period of three years.

Wtatennis.com