Victoria Mboko and Mirra Andreeva lead new generation of friendly rivals

Teenage talent team up in doubles before playing each other at Miami Open in changing world of women’s game

Victoria Mboko and Mirra Andreeva, the two highest-ranked teenagers in the world, prepared for their marquee Miami Open fourth-round match in an unusual manner. Aside from being the two protagonists of the freshest rivalry in women’s tennis, they are also great friends, and so they spent the afternoon before their big match against each other competing on the same side of the net in doubles.

This was an opportunity to giggle, relax and enjoy themselves on one of the smaller courts in Miami, but Mboko and Andreeva are ranked No 9 and No 10 in the world for a reason. Two fiercely competitive beings determined to win every time on the court, they fought desperately and emerged with an impressive result. After trailing 0-5 against the eighth seeds, Demi Schuurs and Ellen Perez, in the opening set and facing eight set points scattered across the set, they somehow emerged from the match with a straight-sets win.