In a bitter struggle for the company with Rybakina: Andreeva and Alexandrova completed their performance at Roland Garros

Andreeva's Resistance

On Saturday, June 3, two more Russians played their third-round matches at Roland Garros. Mirra Andreeva got a very serious rival - Cory Gauff, who ranks sixth in the world ranking. The tennis player won the tournament in Auckland at the beginning of the year, and stopped at the Australian Open in the fourth round. However, she did not shine at the last clay competitions in Rome and Madrid.

In Paris, the American easily defeated the Spaniard Rebeca Masarova and the Austrian Julia Graber. But in the match with the Russian she had to suffer. The fight began from the very first game, as Mirra came out on the court more collected. Gauff made mistakes on the serve, which Andreeva quickly took advantage of, leading the score 3:1.

However, then there was a decline in the actions of the domestic athlete, and Corey not only equalized, but also went ahead 5:4. At the same time, Mirra lost 0:40 in the ninth game, but managed to win back three break points of her opponent, once even making an ace with the second ball. As a result, the Russian woman gave the serve.

However, these glasses helped her cheer up. And then, with her active actions, Andreeva forced the American to make mistakes: Gauff made a double (there were five of them in total) at the decisive moment - 5:5. As a result, it came to a tie-break, in which Corey again did not look so confident on her serve, which allowed Mirra to crush the American.

Failure in the first game and a small snack unexpectedly had a beneficial effect on Gauff. Back on the court, she practically stopped making unforced errors: three per set against 19 at the beginning of the meeting. In addition, the tennis player began to cope with Andreeva's attacks, which sometimes lacked sharpness. The powerful American felt more comfortable with long rallies. As a result, another triple break point in the fourth game on the opponent's serve.

Alas, this time Mirra could not win him back, although she acted well. It's just that the opponent was even more active. For the second set, she made five more winners (eight to three). And this began to put psychological pressure on the 16-year-old Russian woman. As a result, she gave the game - 1:6.

It was not possible to turn the tide of the meeting with Andreeva in the third set. Gauff continued to act flawlessly (only four unforced errors) and again led 2:1. The third game turned out to be key. The athletes held 12 draws, the Russian tried all possible ways to take points. But neither shortened nor accurate shots under the back line helped.

Corey coped with everything, and after this break, it seems, the domestic tennis player gave up. She began to react emotionally to her unfortunate actions. It was clear that the girl did not know how to cope with the opponent who caught courage.

Gauff also improved her serve, taking the games "to zero". Moreover, she turned out to be stronger in all eight draws, in which she hit the square with the first ball. The next 6:1 was not long in coming.

Mirra leaves Roland Garros, however, according to the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, he can write down the "major" as an asset.

"She is not afraid of anyone, she plays, she creates, just well done. It's a pity that I couldn't go further - Mirra was in no way inferior to Gauff. A very disappointing defeat, but she "ate enough," TASS quoted the specialist as saying.

Alexandrova's Unforced Errors

The match between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Beatrice Haddad-Maia was very difficult. The representative of Brazil had previously coped with 19-year-old Diana Schneider with great difficulty and for a long time could not find an approach to her compatriot, giving two games at the beginning of the game on her serve out of three.

The Russian quickly made the score 5:1 and was going to serve for the set. But suddenly, something broke in the game of the Russian. She made two doubles, and then in a short shootout on the back line did not hit the court in width, giving her opponent a triple break point, which she took advantage of.

Beatrice felt confident, easily took her serve, and at the reception she herself achieved an advantage thanks to an excellent cross from the backhand along the line right through. There was no trace of Catherine's advantage, but she still managed to put the squeeze on her opponent in the 12th game. The Brazilian began to make mistakes again, as at the beginning of the game. And Alexandrova earned a setball, which she immediately converted.

In the second set, the decline in Alexandrova's game continued. She made 24 unforced errors, began to hit the first ball less (59% instead of 72%), and even in these draws she was inferior.

Haddad-Maya also did not act perfectly, so for a long time the advantage passed from one athlete to another. However, the ending was left to Beatrice. She made the most important break at the score 4:4 and successfully served, taking eight points out of ten in two games.

On the courage, she began the third game. Alexandrova, on the other hand, continued to collect unforced errors. This time there were 27 of them. Double problems were added to the list of problems, of which she made seven per set. In the end, Beatrice took a 4-1 lead.

But the Russian was not going to give up: Ekaterina at that moment seemed to have a second wind and she unexpectedly began to take one point after another. Having won four games in a row, the Russian had a matchball on the reception, but at the decisive moment the same difficulties arose again. Haddad-Maia not only escaped, but eventually won the meeting - 7:5.

In the next round, the Brazilian will meet with the Spaniard Sara Sorribes-Tormo, who was in the 1/8 finals of Roland Garros after withdrawing from the tournament due to the indisposition of Elena Rybakina. Without any problems, Iga Swiatek made it to the next round of the Major. The first racket of the world simply destroyed the Chinese Xinyu Wang on the court, not allowing her opponent to win a single game - 6: 0, 6: 0. It took only 51 minutes for the representative of Poland to win.

In the men's bracket of the tournament, two sensations were created by the Argentines: Thomas Etcheverry knocked Borna Coric out of the fight, defeating the Croat in three sets. Taylor Fritz also leaves the tournament. The American lost in four games to Francisco Cerundolo, who for the first time in his career reached the 1/8 finals of the French Open. Holger Rune and Casper Ruud continue to fight - they can play each other in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.