Mirra Andreeva surpasses Coco Gauff for most WTA 1000 Top 20 wins before turning eighteen

Unseeded Mirra Andreeva subdues Emma Navarro in her maiden appearance at the Cincinnati Open.

Mirra Andreeva handed Emma Navarro an opening-round defeat for the second consecutive year, winning 6-2, 6-2, in just 65 minutes. Fresh off winning a doubles silver medal at the Paris Olympics, the Russian teen scored the first upset at the Cincinnati Open over the American 11th seed Emma Navarro, hitting 16 winners and bagging 34/45 (76%) of her service points. It was the first tour-level meeting between the duo.

Andreeva’s sixth WTA Top 20 win was at WTA 1000 events before her 18th birthday. In doing so, she has gone past Coco Gauff, who has five such wins. The Russian World No. 24 has a 6-3 winning record among under-19 players against those in the Top 20 bracket at WTA 1000 events and a 10-8 record overall.

Andreeva has also passed another milestone with Thursday’s win against Navarro. Aged 17 years and 107 days, Mirra Andreeva is the youngest to defeat a Top 20 player in the Cincinnati Open women’s singles draw since the women’s event was reintroduced in 1988. The victory over the American further gave Andreeva her 10th win over a WTA Top 20 player in her blossoming career.

The young Russian had won her first WTA Tour title when she lifted the trophy at the UniCredit Iasi Open, a WTA 250 event, last month.

ALSO READ: Why is winning Canada-Cincinnati not as famous as Sunshine Double?

Andreeva now faces former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the second round. A win against Pliskova could see her face off against 2024 French Open and Wimbledon Open finalist Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the round of 16 ahead of a possible quarter-final clash with No. 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek.

The Pole got the better of Varvara Gracheva in a three-set affair involving a closely fought second-set tiebreak. Swiatek took the first set with one of her trademark bagels, 6-0, before Gracheva edged Swiatek to take the second set tiebreak, 10-8.

Swiatek, the 2023 Cincinnati semi-finalist, reset herself to win the third set 6-2 and book a third-round face-off with Marta Kostyuk after spending 2 hours and eleven minutes on the court. Kostyuk, for her part, overcame 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist and New Zealander Lulu Sun in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, in their second-round match. 

Defending champion Coco Gauff and Olympic gold medal winner Qinwen Zheng were given a free pass into the second round with byes. They are seeded to meet in the last eight, where they will resume their rivalry from Rome this year. Gauff won in the quarterfinals in Rome over Zheng in straight sets. The two players headline the draw’s bottom half at the Cincinnati Open.

Mirra Andreeva is responsible for the first big upset of the Cincinnati Open, where she is unseeded. She took out 11th-seed Home Hope Emma Navarro in their first-ever meeting with a comprehensive straight-set win. Her next test comes in the form of 2016 Cincinnati champion Karolina Pliskova.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram