If being a fast learner is a prerequisite for a potential champion, Mirra Andreeva fits the bill perfectly. Beaten in the first round here a year ago, the 18-year-old Russian defeated Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time, with the promise of much more to come.
Taking the ball early to deny the American time, she changed the pace, as she loves to do, and manoeuvred her opponent into uncomfortable positions from which mistakes flowed. Andreeva is the youngest player to reach this stage at Wimbledon since the Czech Nicole Vaidisova in 2007 and on her Centre Court debut, with Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, she was so much in the moment that she didn’t even realise she had won.
