BEIJING — Fourth seed Mirra Andreeva recovered from a set down to beat wildcard Yue Yuan 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 in her opening match at the China Open in Beijing, reeling off 12 straight games after dropping the opener to the world No. 135.
Andreeva addressed the slow start in her post-match press conference, saying frustration with her own level became fuel for the comeback. “Yeah, it was frustrating,” said Andreeva. “Just doesn’t have anything to do with her, of course. It’s more with the way I was playing. I was just not happy with the way things were going. I felt like there is a lot more stuff that I could do on the court that I was not able to do. I guess just with that anger at myself, I’m happy that I was able to navigate that anger kind of into the game, into the match, not going down even more on myself. I’m just happy I was able to turn things around.”
Asked how she turned the match around, Andreeva pointed to the brief pause between sets when Yuan left the court. “Well, I guess the thing that she went to the toilet maybe helped a little bit because I had more time. I don’t know,” added Andreeva. “I was just thinking of how I really don’t want to lose the first match that I play here because I love to play in Beijing and I really wanted to play for a longer period of time. I don’t know, just kind of I guess found the right motivation.”
After surviving the scare, Andreeva advances to the third round where she will face Polina Kudermetova on Sunday, October 4. Kudermetova reached the round after knocking out 32nd seed Clara Tauson and previously lost to Andreeva in straight sets in Roland Garros qualifying in 2023. The winner will face an unseeded player in either Taylah Preston or Diana Snigur.