Barbora Krejcikova beat Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 at Wimbledon on Wednesday, ending the 19-year-old's run at the point where a rare place in history was within reach. The result also kept the 2024 champion moving on grass after a match that lasted two-and-three-quarter hours.
Krejcikova Andreeva Centre Court
Andreeva was in position to join the short list of women who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon before age 20, but Krejcikova stopped her on Centre Court. The Czech served for the win at 5-3 in the deciding set before Andreeva saved three match points and pushed the final game to a seventh advantage.
Krejcikova called it a huge fight. “The atmosphere was great and we’ve been fighting for almost three hours” she said. “What a match.”
Roland Garros and Wimbledon
The list Andreeva was chasing has four names in the post-1968 Open era: Maureen Connolly, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf. That is the company she could have joined after winning the French Open last month and reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year.
Krejcikova arrived with a different resume and a different ranking line. She had been as high as No 2 in the world in 2022 and was ranked 38 at the time of the match, yet she still absorbed pressure late and closed the final game on Centre Court.
Barbora Krejcikova 38
Afterward, Krejcikova said, “I think this is the fifth time I’ve played with Mirra and it’s always been a huge fight.” She added, “She is such a young and unique player, she has everything in front of her.”
“I’m really happy that we were able to put on a great show and that we were fighting until the final point, and I’m extremely proud that I’ve managed to win on this beautiful Centre Court,” she said. “It’s definitely very special.” For Andreeva, the loss ended the immediate chance to turn a French Open title and a Wimbledon surge into a rare double before her 20th birthday; for Krejcikova, it extended a grass-court run that has outlasted the ranking attached to her name.
