Russian teen sensation Mirra Andreeva revealed she had met her idol Andy Murray at Wimbledon but was too shy to speak to him.
The 16-year-old recently revealed that the two-time champion was a lucky charm after he sent her a good luck message in Madrid in response to Andreeva calling him “beautiful”.
She went on to make the fourth round in the Spanish capital and more good luck could be about to follow in SW19 after she reached the third round when her opponent Barbora Krejcikova retired injured in their second-round match.
I met Andy Murray here. But I'm too shy to talk to him— Mirra Andreeva
But even though she got to meet Murray, she could not bring herself to say anything.
Andreeva, who was 6-3 4-0 up when the former French Open could not continue, said: “I met Andy Murray here. But I’m too shy to talk to him.
“When I see him, I try to leave the facility super quick just to not talk to him because I’m super shy.”
Defending champion Elena Rybakina showed her calmness as she overcame Alize Cornet in straight sets.
After winning the first set comfortably she faced a fight in the second, saving five break points in a mammoth game at 5-5 that had 12 deuces, a medical timeout after a nasty Cornet fall and lasted over 26 minutes.
Rybakina said she had suffered from nerves in her first-round match, but felt she could rely on her calm nature.
“I started really well. Happy that in the end managed to win in two sets because the second one was quite tricky,” she told the PA news agency.
“Yeah, happy to be in another round.
“I’m a calm person. This is something I’m like for a long time. Not many matches you can see a lot of emotions.
“I just think that I focus a lot on myself. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes maybe it’s not. You need to always be aware of what’s happening around.
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“So yeah, I would say just my personality.”
Anett Kontaveit’s singles career is over after she was easily beaten by 32nd seed Marie Bouzkova.
The Estonian, who reached number two in the world, is retiring after this tournament and will not have a fairytale ending after a 6-1 6-2 defeat.
She left Court 18 in tears, but will compete in the mixed doubles.
She said: “It’s just a lot of emotions. There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything.
“Of course, the match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I was so happy to be able to play in front of so many people, that so many people that love me were able to see me play for the last time – in singles.”
French Open finalist Karolina Muchova is out after she was beaten 4-6 7-5 6-1 by Jule Niemeier.
Muchova suffered an injury early in the third set after slipping and was unable to recover.
Asked about the injury she told the PA news agency: “I don’t know much about it yet, it is tough to know how, hopefully it is not serious.
“It affected me for sure, but she played great, it would be tough either way, even if nothing happened.”
It was an entertaining day in the women’s draw with plenty of dramatic matches.
Sofia Kenin looks like she could be an outsider for the tournament after following up her statement win over Coco Gauff with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Wang Xinyu, while Elina Svitolina’s comeback from giving birth last year continues to go well with a 6-1 1-6 6-1 success against 28th seed Elise Mertens.
Bianca Andreescu had been waiting since Tuesday to play her first-round match due to the rain and she came through 6-3 3-6 6-2 against Anna Bondar while Viktoria Azarenka made light work of Nadia Podoroska with a 6-3 6-0 success.
It was also a routine outing for fourth seed Jessica Pegula as she dropped just five games in a 6-1 6-4 win over Cristina Bucsa, though fifth seed Caroline Garcia needed a champion’s tiebreak to get past former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, eventually winning 3-6 6-4 7-6 (6).
Belinda Bencic also needed a deciding tie-break to beat Danielle Collins in a 3-6 6-4 7-6 (2) success.
Elsewhere Donna Vekic, seeded 20th, came back from 4-6 2-5 down to win in three sets against former French Open champion Sloane Stephens.
