Mirra Andreeva’s Wimbledon hopes dashed by resurgent Krejcikova

The brief

Four women in the post-1968 Open era have won singles titles on the slow red clay of Roland Garros and Wimbledon’s lightning-fast grass before their 20th birthdays. As Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old winner of last month’s French Open, walked on to Centre Court here on Wednesday to face Barbora Krejcikova – already a winner of both European grand slams – she had fair hopes of joining Maureen Connolly, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf on that list. Andreeva left with those hopes extinguished after a hard-fought three-set success for Krejcikova – the 2024 champion here – 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, but with her reputation as a scrapper and shot-maker much…