After the quarterfinals reached in Stuttgart, Jasmine Paolini fails to repeat herself in the WTA 1000 in Madrid. The Tuscan tennis player she was defeated in two sets by the Russian Mirra Andreeva, number 43 in the world, with the score 7-6 6-4 after one hour and forty-two minutes of play. There are certainly some regrets for the Italian, for the missed opportunities especially in the first half, but we must also give credit to the 17 year old from Krasnoyarsk who played a truly excellent match, reaching the quarterfinals in the tournament that last year had made it known to the general public.
Amazing how both players won the same number of points (151), a sign of a truly balanced challenge. Both Andreeva and Paolini struggled a little too much in their service rounds, with the Russian winning 57% of the points with the former, while the Italian 51%.
The match, in fact, began with four consecutive breaks. Andreeva ahead 1-0 and then 2-1, but always caught by Paolini, who then took the serve away from her opponent again for a third time, also going up to 5-2. In the eighth game the Tuscan also has a set point, but misses her backhand on the counterattack. Unfortunately Paolini concedes the break in the ninth game and the set then slides to a tie-break. Andreeva starts very strong and takes the lead to 4-0 and it is a decisive advantage for the Russian, which closes at 7-2.
In the wake of the set won, Andreeva is furious at the start of the second half, while Paolini seems to collapse completely. Tuscany, in fact, she loses serve twice and the Russian runs away at 4-0. It’s not over because Jasmine has an amazing reaction and manages to recover the two break deficit, shortening to 5-4. Unfortunately, in the tenth game the forehand betrays her and Andreeva breaks, winning 6-4 and reaching the quarter-finals.
