Today a small delegation of “neutral athletes” from Russia was, perhaps, the last chance for Olympic medals. They expected the award primarily from the winner of the World Cup in trampolining, Angela Bladtseva, but she remained only fifth. But the tennis players secured awards for themselves.
The performance of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider at the Olympics is rightly called a sensation. Young Russians are playing together for the first time in their careers. Mirra and Diana didn’t even have time to train in Paris, because Andreeva flew to the French capital right before the start of the Olympic tournament. She stayed in Iasi, where she won the first singles title in her career.
When the composition of the «neutral» Russian team was announced, many were surprised by the decision to pair Andreeva and Schneider. After all, the Olympic champion of Rio in doubles and the silver medalist of Tokyo in mixed doubles Elena Vesnina came to Paris. It was logical to see one of the young Russian tennis players in a duet with an experienced athlete who knows all the intricacies of the Olympic tournament. Only the president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev, without whom the selection of the pairs could not have been done, once again showed intuition. Even though the girls do not have experience, Andreeva is right-handed, and Schneider is left-handed. In a doubles combination, this is a big advantage.
Well, experience is something that can be acquired. Including the experience of playing together in a pair, which Mirra and Diana acquired during the matches at the Olympic «Roland Garros». They could have finished their performance even in the first round, but in the championship tie-break and on the championship courage preserved after Budapest and Iasi, they finished off the well-coordinated Australian duo Ajla Tomljanovic/Olivia Gadecki. In the second round, the Russians' opponents were even more serious. Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez were «seeded» under the fifth number.
Specializing in performances in pairs and mixed, Dabrowski is currently third in the WTA doubles rankings, and Fernandez plays equally well in both singles and duets. At the US Open 2021, she fought for the Grand Slam title in singles.
But neither the experience nor the titles of the Canadians embarrassed Mirra and Diana. They confidently won the first set, and in the second they hung a «donut» on their opponents. Although even after that they were not considered favorites in the quarterfinals. After all, the Russians had to meet the current Olympic champions and holders of the career Grand Slam in doubles Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
Against well-coordinated, experienced and titled opponents, they played as if they were the reigning Olympic champions and career Grand Slam winners. In the first set, they took five games in a row, allowing the Czechs only to open the scoring. In the second, Schneider failed to serve for the match on her first try, but Andreeva coped with the task on her second attempt.
In the semifinals, the Russians faced the eighth-seeded Spanish players Cristina Buksha and Sara Soribes Tormo. However, Buksha is not a typical representative of the Spanish school. She was born in Chisinau and trains in Spain, where she received citizenship, under the guidance of her father. This season, Cristina has unexpectedly shown herself to be a master of the doubles combination, having already won three titles at WTA tournaments. Unlike Cristina, Sara cannot be considered a doubles combination specialist. In the individual WTA rankings, she is 27th, and in doubles — 71st.
Although the Spanish players were seeded at the Olympic tournament, no one considered them favorites in the match with the neutrals Andreeva and Schneider. In the first set, our girls gave up only one game to their opponents, and started the second with a break. True, in the second game they made us worry a little, having given up their serve. Already in the next game the Russians made a return break, and then another one.
The Spanish fought desperately. In the seventh game they were able to win back three break points and take their serve. But it was already impossible to save the match. Although on Schneider's serve the opponents even managed to get to break points in the eighth game. The Russian girls secured at least silver medals and will fight for gold with the Italians Yasmine Paolini and Sara Errani.