Back from the brink! 16-year-old Andreeva saves match point in stunning fightback against Parry at Australian Open

Last year at the Australian Open, Mirra Andreeva left the court in tears after losing in the Girls’ singles final to Alina Korneeva. After spending the 2023 season establishing herself as a household name on the WTA Tour, there only seem to be smiles for the 16-year-old Russian at this year’s Happy Slam.

Andreeva notched a comeback for the ages on Friday as she rallied from a set down – and 5-1 down in the third – to take out France’s Diane Parry, saving a match point against the talented 21-year-old before earning a hard fought 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) victory in two hours and 23 minutes.

With her victory, the Russian teen reaches the round of 16 at a major for the second time. In the last nine months she has made her main draw debut at all four majors, winning matches at all four (9-3 overall). On Day 4 in Melbourne, Andreeva created some of the biggest waves of week one by defeating No 6-seeded Ons Jabeur in the second round, for her first ever top 10 win.

No 47-ranked Andreeva will play the winner of the match between Australian qualifier Storm Hunter and No 9 seed Barbora Krejcikova as she bids to reach her first major quarter-final next.

An improbable comeback

Down 5-1 in the third and looking lost, Andreeva dug down and found her best tennis to storm back into the match. She maneuvered the ball to all corners of the court, struck winners down the line off her backhand side with regularity, and rarely made mistakes. As she gained clarity, Parry lost the script, became passive, and didn’t make much of an impact down the stretch.

Parry held a match point with Andreeva serving at 2-5 in the third, but couldn’t convert. It was mostly Andreeva’s match from there.

The Frenchwoman did break Andreeva in the 12th game of the set to force a tiebreak, but she quickly fell behind 7-2 in the ensuing breaker and could not make up the difference.

Earlier in the tournament, Parry, ranked No 72, won against Chinese Xinyu Wang, the No 30 seed (6-3, 2-6, 6-3) and Russian Kamilla Rakhimova (7-5, 6-2).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Elina Svitolina vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Iga Swiatek vs. Linda Noskova
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Oceane Dodin vs. Clara Burel
• Anna Blinkova vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Yafan Wang
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Sloane Stephens
• Emma Navarro vs. Dayana Yastremska
• Storm Hunter vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Maria Timofeeva vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Magdalena Frech vs. Anastasia Zakharova: friday
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Alycia Parks: 6-0, 6-2
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Marta Kostyuk: friday
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Lesia Tsurenko (28): 6-0, 6-0
• Amanda Anisimova beat Paula Badosa: 7-5, 6-4