Youth stole the spotlight at the Australian Open on Wednesday, as 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva pulled off a major 6-0, 6-2 upset of Tunisian sixth seed Ons Jabeur in a second-round match in Melbourne.
Andreeva converted five of seven break points while recording 13 winners to pick up the stunning victory, which even came as a surprise to her.
"In the first set, I showed amazing tennis," Andreeva said. "I honestly didn't expect that from myself."
Andreeva made her Grand Slam debut at last year's French Open, losing in the third round. She lost to eventual winner Leylah Fernandez at the 2023 Hong Kong Open.
Andreeva sits at 47th in the world rankings. Jabeur came into the match at No. 6.
Another young Russian, 20-year-old Maria Timofeeva, also found success, rallying to best Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
After a strong start, the 33-year-old Wozniacki had a break-point opportunity to go up 3-0 in the second set, but Timofeeva fought to hold serve and rolled to victory from there.
Wozniacki was the World No. 1 for 71 weeks in 2010-11 and won the Australian Open in 2018.
Timofeeva said she has had a great time during her Australian Open debut.
"I went into the match without any expectations," she said, "just to show what I'm capable of, and to see how the match goes and, yeah, it was really great." (Reuters)