Russia's Mirra Andreeva produced another fantastic display at the 2024 Australian Open as she defeated France's Diane Parry 1-6 6-1 7-6 (10-5), in the third round on Friday.
The 16-year-old, playing in her first Australian Open, came into her third-round match having comfortably beaten number six seed, Ons Jabeur, 6-0 6-2 in the last round.
However, she did not carry that momentum into the start of Friday's contest as Parry broke the teenager at the earliest opportunity in the opening set. Andreeva struggled to get any rhythm going in the first set as Parry was dominating and proving too strong for the teenager.
Parry swiftly secured the first set 6-1, but the match shifted entirely in the second set as Andreeva began to dominate proceedings. The Russian was able to land multiple breaks to take the set by the same score line as the first and ultimately set up a deciding set.
The match swung again in the third set as Parry reinstated her control of the contest and looked to be on the verge of going through as she was 5-1 up and had a match point. Despite Parry's large lead, Andreeva managed to claw her way back and win five consecutive games to lead 6-5.
Andreeva had the chance to close out the third set whilst serving but Parry broke back to level the contest at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker to decide the winner. Despite losing the opening point of the tiebreak, Andreeva eventually built up a comfortable lead over Parry and took the final set 7-6 (10-5).
Following the match, Andreeva reflected on her performance, saying: "It was a tough match. In the first set, it was really tough for me to do something and then I just found my way. In the third set I honestly didn't really expect to come back, but I did it so I'm very happy."
The win continues what is already a brilliant inaugural Australian Open for Andreeva, and she will be hoping her success can continue in Melbourne when she faces ninth seed, Barbora Krejcikova, in the fourth round on Sunday. A win here would secure a first ever quarter final appearance at a Grand Slam for the 16-year-old.
Friday's women's singles matches also saw defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, cruise to a 6-0 6-0 win over Lesia Tsurenko. The Belarusian has been in spectacular form in the opening three rounds of this year's tournament, dropping no sets and losing only six games in the process.
Sabalenka's defence of the Australian Open will continue when she takes on America's Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round on Sunday.
Coco Gauff also sailed to a straightforward win on Friday as she beat fellow American, Alycia Parks, 6-0 6-2. This sets up a fourth round matchup for her with Poland's Magdalena Frech on Sunday.
Providing Sabalenka and Gauff maintain their current form and keep winning, they will meet at the semi-final stage. This would be a rematch of last year's US Open final, which Gauff triumphed in after coming from a set down.
In Friday's men's singles, current champion, Novak Djokovic, beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-2), to continue his quest for an 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam win. After having to go to four sets in the opening two rounds, Djokovic will be pleased to have exerted less energy in his third-round contest.
The Serbian now has a full two days rest as his fourth round match will be held on Monday against France's Adrian Mannarino.
Mannarino booked a meeting with Djokovic after a thrilling five-set win over America's Ben Shelton. The Frenchman has now won each of his first three round matches at this year's Australian Open by going the distance.
Against Shelton, Mannarino won the first set 7-6 (7-4), but Shelton responded by winning the next two sets 6-1 7-6 (7-2) and looked to be in control of the match. However, Mannarino showed yet again his determination to give everything on the court and won the next two sets 6-3 6-4.
Last year's finalist, Stefanos Tsitsipas, advanced to the fourth round after a 6-3 6-0 6-4 win against France's Luca Van Assche. The Greek's next game will be against America's Taylor Fritz on Monday.
