Rising teen star Mirra Andreeva sailed into the French Open fourth round with an impressive straight-sets demolition of Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.
The Russian sixth seed brushed aside Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen sealing victory in 78 minutes on her first match point.
Andreeva is enjoying a sparkling campaign having secured a historic title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February, before beating world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Indian Wells less than a month later.
And the 18-year-old, who reached the semi-finals at last year's tournament at Roland Garros where she lost to Jasmine Paolini, has yet to drop a set in three matches in the French capital.
Andreeva is hoping to become the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam title since her compatriot Maria Sharapova's 2004 Wimbledon triumph.
Her path to the final has been made slightly less perilous by the fact both Sabalenka and reigning champion Iga Swiatek are in the other half of the draw.
“I knew Yulia is a very tricky player, she has an interesting game and it's uncomfortable for me,” said Andreeva, who won nine of the last 10 games on her way to victory. “She likes to cut the rhythm a lot, I knew it would be tough.
“I kind of knew what to expect I knew I had to play at 100 per cent and fight for every ball and get those drop shots. I'm happy with the way I play today.”
Standing in the way of Andreeva and a quarter-final spot will be her good friend Daria Kasatkina of Australia who knocked out 10th seed Paula Badosa 6-1, 7-5 in their third round match which lasted one hour 33 minutes.
The 17th seed held off a late charge from the Spaniard before sealing her first top-10 win in 11 months.
American third seed Jessica Pegula was made to battle for her fourth-round place before eventually beating former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in three sets.
Pegula, who has never been beyond the quarter-finals in Paris, fought back from a set down before going through 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 against the unseeded Czech.
“Obviously had some chances in the first, but sometimes you can’t quite get the break,” said Pegula, who will now face the French wildcard Lois Boisson.
“You’re so close, so close … I think when I finally broke her I kind of freed up a little bit. I thought I was playing her the right way the first set, I just needed to be a tad more aggressive.
“And then there were times in the third where maybe I was a little too aggressive, coming in on awkward shots. Playing her, that’s why’s it’s so hard – it’s like a really fine line, especially on clay.”
In the men's draw, world No 1 Jannik Sinner was in ruthless form as he destroyed Jiri Lehecka 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Italian came flying out of the blocks by winning the opening 11 games without reply with Lehecka drawing loud cheers when he finally got on the board.
Sinner, who returned to tennis in May after a three-month-doping ban, has yet to drop a set in his second tournament back, after reaching the final in Rome earlier in the month.
The top seed has now stretched his winning streak at Grand Slam events to 17 matches, after winning the titles at the 2024 US Open and the Australian Open in January before his doping ban.
He will now face 17th-seed Andrey Rublev, who advanced after his opponent Arthur Fils of France withdrew with a back injury.
“This morning I said to my team I’m feeling well and physically ready,” said Sinner. “We had to go hard in the beginning because the beginning in Grand Slams is very important for confidence. I warmed up well, I felt very good so after 20-25 minutes I was feeling brave.”
“It was a relaxed morning. My team give me the right tactics, I tried to play them in the match so it’s a combination of also being happy on court – it’s very important.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES
June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)
