Andreeva makes first semi since Roland Garros triumph

No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva steamrolled her way into the China Open quarterfinals. 

She finally hit a speed bump. She kept rolling anyway. 

The reigning Roland Garros champion edged Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in a nearly two-hour battle on Thursday night on Capital Group Diamond Court, passing her first test in Beijing and locking up a Saturday semifinal with another young star, Czechia's Nikola Bartunkova.

“I’m super happy with how it went,” said World No. 5 Andreeva. “I think she played a good game today.”

After conceding only 15 games and one set in her previous three matches, the 19-year-old Andreeva found herself in a tough match to reach the semifinals. 

She made history, becoming the youngest player to make the China Open semifinals since Hungary’s Agnes Szavay in 2007.

“Going into a semifinals here in Beijing also feels very special 'cause it's the end of the year,” Andreeva said. "Last year, last tournaments that I played, Beijing, Wuhan and the rest, let's just not even go back there because I feel like that was...something.

"Very happy that this year is different and I was able to turn things around."

After falling behind 3-1 in the first set, Alexandrova found herself up 5-3 after a series of unforced errors and a double fault by Andreeva. But Andreeva remained composed, fighting for the breakthrough she needed. 

She went on to win three of four games, including holding serve at love to force a tiebreak. 

Andreeva took control in the tiebreak, confidently sealing a 7-4 win. 

She carried that momentum into the second set to build a seemingly unassailable 5-2 lead. Alexandrova didn’t let her off easily. She went on to grab the next four games of the set.

Stuck in a tiebreak once again, Andreeva’s steadiness won the day to secure her first career win over Alexandrova. 

“I'm just happy that I was able to stay calm, even when she was the one serving for the set again in the second set,” Andreeva said. "I was able to try and be more aggressive, to go for my shots, my returns. Very happy to win the match with two tiebreaks."

By Maggie Bane