Mira Andrejeva's remarkable journey in her first Wimbledon tennis tournament came to an end after the 16-year-old Russian lost 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 to Madison Keys, who mounted a comeback to reach the quarter-finals on Monday. Andrejeva, ranked 102nd in the world, aimed to become the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals of the grass court Grand Slam since Anna Kournikova did so in 1997. Although she fought hard against Keys, she eventually fell short against the American's experience.
Keys, 28, started the match aggressively, taking an early lead of 2-0. However, Andrejeva quickly recovered, showcasing great skill with her dropshots and successful strikes, breaking Keys' serve twice to win the first set. Keys continued to make easy errors, allowing Andrejeva to lead 3-0 in the second set. Yet, the 25th seed bounced back spectacularly with strong left-handed shots, reaching a tiebreak and winning it, leveling the match.
It seemed that losing the tiebreak had a negative effect on Andrejeva, as she fell behind 2-0 in the third set after making a double fault on her serve. The American finished off the match after more than two hours of play. In her second appearance in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Keys will face either Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, ranked second, or Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, ranked 21st.
