SYDNEY, January 17. /TASS/. Teen Russian tennis prodigy Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday moved on to the third round of this year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the 2024 Australian Open.

In a match lasting less than an hour, the Russian player blazed past 6th-seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia with a straight sets win of 6-0; 6-2 and she is now set to face off in the next round against France’s Diane Parry, who won her Round 2 match against Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova (7-5; 6-2).

"I was really nervous before the match because I’m really inspired by Ons, by the way she plays," the tournament’s official website quoted Andreeva as saying after the match. "Before I started to play on the WTA Tour, I always watched her matches and I was always so inspired."

"Now I had a chance to play against her and honestly in the first set, I showed amazing tennis. I honestly didn’t expect that from myself," she continued. "For me it was an amazing match. I'm super happy with the level that I showed today on the court."

"I was really nervous before the match, but I saw that she was nervous too. It kind of helped me, because I know I'm not the only one who is nervous before the match."

"I just decided to just enjoy, because it's Rod Laver Arena, I'm playing against the person that I like. I decided just to play, and I think I played okay," Andreeva said. "Now, after the match, she came to me, she wished me luck. I just know that she is who she is and she never change. That's what I like about her."

The sixteen-year-old Andreeva is currently ranked 47th in the WTA (the Women Tennis Association) Rankings. Last year, in Grand Slams she reached the 3rd round of the French Open, made it all the way to the 4th round at Wimbledon and then battled her way into Round 2 of the US Open. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year.

The 2024 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park from January 14-28 and has a purse of $57.8 mln in prize money up for grabs. The opening tournament of the annual Grand Slam series in Australia marks its 112th edition this year. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also cancelling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.