Better from the young Russian!

Mirra Andreeva suffered, but she’s through. After a two-hour and seventeen-minute battle against Cirstea, the number one seed had to go to a third set to qualify, 7-6 4-6 6-2. She converted five break points out of seven, served five aces, but conceded four breaks, a sign of an Andreeva who is still imperfect on this Linz clay. On the other side, Elena-Gabriela Ruse keeps her tournament going from the inside. The 28-year-old Romanian, ranked 87th in the world, turned the match around against Ostapenko 4-6 6-4 6-1 after once again going through the “comeback” box, her third straight comeback in this tournament. Nine aces, eight breaks converted out of eighteen chances, an exceptional level on return since the start of the week.

The H2H is clear: Andreeva leads 1–0 with a 6-3 6-4 win at the Australian Open in January. On clay, they’ve never faced each other. Ruse is notoriously better on clay than on hard, 3–0 in this tournament on today’s surface, and her daily schnitzel seems to be working. But Andreeva at 1.188 reflects a real gap in level that Ruse’s three grueling matches don’t bridge. The number one seed is fresher, two sets played versus three for Ruse, with two exhausting comebacks in her legs. The match is analysed, not bet on.