Andreeva lands in Miami, still processing a whirlwind run

MIAMI — This is Mirra Andreeva’s first Miami Open, but her first trip to Florida — and the United States, as well — came six years ago. It was a harbinger of great things to come.

“I was very excited,” Andreeva said. “I was playing under-12 and I was very tiny.”

She was 11 years old.

That didn’t stop her from winning the doubles at Eddie Herr in Bradenton and reaching the singles final. Or winning the singles title a few weeks later at the Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables, defeating Yelyzaveta Kotliar 6-1, 6-3.

At 17, Kotliar is still working her way up the professional ranks, currently sitting at No. 855 in the PIF WTA Rankings — a more typical trajectory compared to Andreeva’s rapid rise.

After winning back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells she’s won 12 consecutive matches and is ranked No. 6. Yes, the hottest player on the Hologic WTA Tour is also the youngest inside the Top 125.

She beat the World No. 1 and No. 2 players at the BNP Paribas Open, the youngest player to do that in a WTA event in 35 years. She’s the only player in a position to pull off the Sunshine Double, something only two active players have achieved.

Andreeva opens with a second-round match against Veronika Kudermetova on Friday. In a wide-ranging interaction with the media here on Tuesday, Andreeva said of Indian Wells, “I am super happy about the win. Now, unfortunately, I have to focus on Miami.”

It’s a jarring reset, to be sure, but Andreeva seems up to it. After doing the post-match media rounds for a few hours after Indian Wells, she and her team went out to dinner and talked a lot. After only a few hours of sleep, the wakeup call came at 3 a.m. and the cross-country flight took off three hours later.

It wasn’t for another 12 hours later that they were all situated, just enough time to get to the supermarket. She and her mother, Raisa, made dinner and got to bed early. After a morning practice, Andreeva found herself meeting the press all over again.

Perhaps more than any player, No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka has witnessed Andreeva’s transformation. Their head-to-head offers insight:

As a 15- and 16-year-old, Andreeva went deep into the Madrid draw, only to run into Sabalenka, who dispatched her in straight sets. But only a month after her 17^th birthday, after losing the opening set, Andreeva stunned Sabalenka in last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinals.

Her coach, Conchita Martinez, describes Andreeva as a sponge, a magnificent processing machine. This year, that precise pattern repeated itself. She lost to Sabalenka in the Brisbane semifinal and the Australian Open’s Round of 16 — taking only three games in Melbourne.

Less than two months later, after again dropping a one-sided first set, Andreeva came back to beat Sabalenka at Indian Wells. And while Sabalenka was gracious in defeat, making antic gestures and funny faces at Andreeva during the trophy presentation, this one had to sting.

“She definitely can be a great player,” Sabalenka said in Miami. “She’s moving well, she’s serving well, hitting some great shots. She has a touch and she’s really matured. I think with the years — I don’t know, actually — she’s really so fast with the results and the improvements in her game and she’s so young.

“So I cannot predict when she’s going to be Grand Slam winner or World No. 1, but she’s definitely going to be one.”