Teen sensation Andreeva reaches Australian Open 4th round with win over Parry

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva continued her momentum at the Australian Open on Friday, coming back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat France's Diane Parry 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/5) and reach the 4th round.

Andreeva, 16, won five games in a row in the third set to lead 6-5, before Parry, who is only 21 herself, broke to force a tiebreak, which the teenage sensation won when Parry sent a forehand wide. She will next meet the winner between Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova and Australian qualifier Storm Hunter. 

Earlier on Wednesday, she downed sixth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia after only eight months on the WTA Tour.

Andreeva has reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career. She was halted by American Madison Key in the fourth round of Wimbledon last year and had previously reached the French Open third round when she fell short against another teenage sensation, 19-year-old Coco Gauff, who later won the U.S. Open as a home favorite.

Her gritty spirit drew attention and praise from men's singles former world number one Andy Murray.

"Andreeva down 5-1 in third. Commentator 'she really needs to work on mental side of her game..she's too hard on herself when she's losing' 30 minutes later 7-6 Andreeva wins. Maybe the reason she turned the match round is because of her mental strength. Maybe she turned the match around because she is hard on herself and demands more of herself when she's losing/playing badly? Winner," wrote Murray on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Andreeva was out of sorts in the opening set, broken twice by Parry, who dominated the match from baseline. She then found form in the second set, breaking in the fourth and sixth games to clinch the set and level the match. Parry established a 5-1 lead in the third but could not fend off the teenager's comeback, including a 20-rally shot in the ninth game, broken by Andreeva as she closed the gap for herself to 5-4.

"I'll put it in a frame. I'll bring it everywhere with me. I'll maybe put it on the wall so I can see it every day," Andreeva responded to Murray's comment, saying she didn't think he would watch her match.

"I won the last time I played her," Andreeva reflected. "I had an advantage. I felt that maybe I should win because I won pretty easy on the score. Maybe I should win this match. When you think like this, it always happens, like 1-6 in the first set.

"Then I decided to fight to win one game at a time. Maybe being harsh on myself actually helped me. I don't know. I just try to think positively. This harshness, let's say, helped me with it because I'm not positive in my head usually," she added.