Martinez proud of Uno champion Andreeva's evolution

Since then, Martinez has guided her charge into the top 10, collecting significant silverware along the way including back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and then Dubai last season.

Grand Slam success has been simmering, until now. The 19-year-old emphatically dispatched world No.15 Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday to head into the final.

Twenty-six years ago it was Martinez who was at this stage, finishing as the RG 2000 runner-up to Mary Pierce.

“It’s really wonderful to see because when I got to the final here, Mirra’s matches remind me of my quarters, my semis, my times,” Martinez reminisced. “It’s beautiful to see her playing this good in this place and see her in a first Grand Slam final."

The Spanish coach teamed up with Andreeva just two months before Roland-Garros 2024 and is far from surprised by the teenager’s rapid, yet calculated evolution.

“We just want to get better day after day, improve, improve and when you work hard, the results normally come,” the former world No.2 said.

“She keeps on maturing, she’s better in every aspect, physically and mentally too. She’s so much stronger and we’ve had a lot more time to work on things in two years.

“Mirra understands herself better on the court, she’s doing great. She’s still very young, it’s a process. She is very, very talented, however, she has such a margin still to improve, which is so wonderful to know and see.”

Six matches so far this fortnight and the No.8 seed has only surrendered one set, which was the opener against Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera.

Into Saturday’s showdown and the teenager will be the overwhelming favourite across the net from breakout qualifier Maja Chwalinska.

Regardless of the opponent, Martinez wants the same winning qualities replicated this time on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’m very proud of her attitude, her focus and her fighting spirit this tournament,” Martinez added.

“It’s going to be a very tough final. We have to stay humble and work really hard for point after point. We’ll make a plan and go for it.”

The only area where Andreeva and Martinez collide is during card games.

“She’s a lot of fun to work with. We play a lot of Uno and we also play a lot of jokes on each other. We have a similar sense of humour.”

But who is the reigning Uno champion?

“She would say her… I’ll let her have it!”

Andreeva has been overjoyed by collecting the tournament-themed pins, introduced by the Roland-Garros player services team this year, which she attaches to her accreditation lanyard as a fresh reward for step-by-step progress this fortnight.

It’s been a different tale for Martinez.

“I haven’t got any! When I wanted to start, they had already run out,” the Wimbledon 1994 winner quipped.

“These are like good luck charms for Mirra, so I’ll let her keep them all. She’s very excited about it.

“It reminds us of the Olympics (Paris 2024), we got pins there and she got into it then. It’s good to see she has another motivation to focus on to complete.”