Andreeva ‘not proud’ after Indian Wells title defence ends in smashed racket and gestures at crowd | Tennis

Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense came to an ill-tempered end on Monday as Katerina Siniakova stunned the Russian teenager 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.

The 18-year-old opened her bid to retain her crown with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra. But she struggled early and often against Siniakova, the world No. 44, in an up-and-down match that ended with the Czech’s shot hitting the net rope and dribbling in a frustrating final moment.

Andreeva threw her racket as she approached the net before gesturing and appearing to insult the crowd several times as she left the court.

“I’m not really proud of how I did it,” Andreeva said, but added that the profanity picked up by the court microphones was not aimed at fans.

“It was for me, for everyone, basically,” Andreeva said. “I mean, after the loss, I’m very angry, so I say those things to myself sometimes. I mean, first to myself, of course, but then, yeah, it was just anger coming out, just a lot of emotion. Not really towards anyone.”

Andreeva admitted she had struggled to contain her emotions throughout her young career, and after Monday’s loss she said it was an area she needed to address.

“These are the things that [I] we really need to work on it soon,” she said. “I don’t know. Not in the future, but whenever I get the chance. Yes, I hope I can work on it and improve in this area as well.

Siniakova, a former doubles number one, admitted the net shot was a tricky way to seal victory in a match that featured seven breaks of serve for each player and 43 break chances between them.

“Of course I’m happy [the ball] I went to the other side,” she said. “I was like, should I clap? It’s a really delicate finish. But I certainly won’t say I’m not happy.

Andreeva’s post-match gestures weren’t her first outburst of the day. She threw her racket after losing the second set tiebreaker before breaking it, resulting in a code violation. She regrouped to break Siniakova to take a 3-2 lead in the third, but Siniakova won the next four games, saving two break points in the final game before securing victory on her first match point.

Siniakova will face Elina Svitolina for a place in the quarter-finals after the ninth-seeded Ukrainian beat American Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-2.