Russian seventh seed Mirra Andreeva powered her way into her first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over American 10th seed Emma Navarro on Monday.
The win for Andreeva meant she became the youngest player in the last eight of the women’s singles since 2005.
The 18-year-old looked at home on Centre Court, using her booming serve, regularly above 110 miles per hour, and power from the baseline to book a meeting with Swiss Belinda Bencic in the next round.
In doing so, she matched the feat of compatriot Maria Sharapova in 2005 at the same age – 18 years and 62 days at the start of the tournament.
With a light breeze swirling around the showcourt, Andreeva took an early break in the match, thanks to a fine backhand past her 24-year-old opponent.
Navarro was looking to reach a second successive quarter-final at the All England Club.
She struggled to return the Russian’s serve, with Andreeva not giving up any points on her first serve throughout the first set.
The Americans surrendered another break by hitting into the net from a fierce Andreeva forehand for 4-1.
Navarro saved two set points but Andreeva converted the third courtesy of another unreturnable serve, taking the lead in the match after little more than half an hour of play.
The second set brought an upturn in form for Navarro as the pair traded breaks and continued to slug it out from the baseline.
However, Andreeva held on to a break advantage over her opponent and executed a beautifully weighted lob on her way to bringing up three match points.
The teenager needed only one thanks to a fortunate net cord but had lost track of the score.
She lined up at the baseline again before apologising and running to the net to shake hands with her beaten opponent.
