Mirra Andreeva wins at Madrid Open after saying ‘I will choke’ having blown third-set lead

Mirra Andreeva said she is “not a champion” and would “choke” during the final set of her Madrid Open match against Hungary’s Anna Bondár — before securing victory two games later.

Andreeva, the world No. 8 from Russia, had lost a 5-1 lead in the third set to trail Bondár 6-5 when she sat down at a change of ends. Looking at her box, including coach Conchita Martínez, Andreeva said: “I’m not a champion, I’m not a champion. I will lose. I will lose. I choke.” She then said, “I don’t want anything,” appearing to suggest she didn’t want reassurance from her team.

Andreeva managed to hold serve, playing far more freely and aggressively from behind than she did when she was ahead, before pinching the tiebreak 7-5 against the world No. 63 to secure an up-and-down 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(5) victory.

She won it by going for broke with a backhand winner down the line on her second match point, having squandered the first with a drop shot too early in the point that hit the bottom of the net. Despite being up 5-1, Andreeva never held a match point in the third set until the tiebreak.

The win ensures a place in the Madrid Open quarterfinals for the third straight year, and continues an improved run of form for Andreeva, who turns 19 on Wednesday. She won the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in the middle of April, before reaching the semifinals of the Stuttgart Tennis Grand Prix the following week. The rest of 2026 had been tougher for the prodigiously talented player, who has unraveled on the court on several occasions.

After exiting the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., last month, where she was the defending champion, Andreeva said “f— you all, f— you all” as she left the court. After the match, a third-round defeat to Kateřina Siniaková, Andreeva said in a news conference: “I’m not really proud of how I managed it. I’m not really proud of how I handled it in the end. Those are the things that really need to work on soon. I don’t know. Not in the future but whenever I get the chance.” She added that the insult was “to myself, to everyone basically.”

It was an uncomfortable but not isolated incident. During the previous few months, Andreeva had frequently appeared despondent mid-match, with defeats pockmarked by bouts of self-flagellation, tears and racket smashes, even during innocuous moments.

Having failed to serve the match out twice against Bondár, it looked as though this would be another such loss, but instead Andreeva was able to compose herself and reset sufficiently to claim an impressive victory in the circumstances. She next faces Canadian No. 24 seed Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals Tuesday.