Andreeva points to mental improvements following Dubai victory over Swiatek

Mirra Andreeva was especially pleased with her mental performance during her straight-set win over No 2 seed Iga Swiatek on Thursday in Dubai.

Mirra Andreeva, Australian Open, 2024 © Virginie Bouyer / Panoramic

Ricky Dimon

February 21, 2025

Not much went wrong for Mirra Andreeva during her upset of world No 2 Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday afternoon. After all, Andreeva rolled to a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win in one hour and 36 minutes.

The 17-year-old did, however, endure some brief adversity in the second set when she trailed 3-1. Swiatek caught fire with her return to break for 2-1 and then saved two break points in the next game to consolidate her advantage.

It was a moment that probably would have weighed on Andreeva in the past. Now, though, the world No 14 is mentally tougher thanks to some recent work with a psychologist. She attributed Thursday’s performance to that development.

(I have) been also working on acceptance when something doesn’t go my way

“I have some new tips,” Andreeva said during her post-match press conference. “I have some new [advice], in a way, (on) how to work with my anger inside — what to do when I don’t feel great, how to maintain my level when I feel great, how to keep being me.

“For example, when it was 1-1, I was serving. When she broke me, she [hit] three return winners. There was not much I could do about it. I just had to accept it. (I have) been also working on acceptance when something doesn’t go my way.

“Out there on the court I felt like [even at] 1-3, [I feel] strong. I feel like I’m still right there with her. (I) just thought that, ‘okay, it’s going to take some time, but I’m going to go back and I’m going to try to come back and win the second set.'”

That is exactly what Andreeva did. In fact, the Russian lost only five total points in the last five games of the match. She struck 10 aces and hit almost as many winners as Swiatek (18 to 22) despite making 20 fewer unforced errors (13 to 33).

“I just tried to tell myself to go for my shots, to be aggressive, to not hesitate,” Andreeva explained. “I think that helped me to win in a way.”