MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva has reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 WTA Iasi Open tennis tournament in Romania after defeating Alexandra Sasnovich of Belarus on Tuesday.
The top-seeded Andreeva, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, outplayed her unseeded Belarusian opponent in straight sets 6-1; 6-3 and she is now set to face off against Lea Boskovic from Croatia.
"Honestly, I’m happy with my win today, it was a great match," Andreeva said in a statement for the WTA press office provided to TASS after her match against Sasnovich.
"She was definitely on a roll coming back from finals in Budapest. I know it was hard for her, she did not really have time to adjust to these conditions," she continued. "Still I’m very happy that I managed to play my game and to win this match for everyone."
Last week, 30-year-old Sasnovich reached the final of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, where she lost to Russia’s Diana Shnaider 6-4; 6-4.
Asked to comment on the straight sets win over her Belarusian opponent earlier in the day, Andreeva said: "I don’t really like to spend much time on courts, so I’m trying to play fast and go home to rest as fast as I can. That’s my plan for every match."
The seventeen-year-old Andreeva is currently ranked 32nd in the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings. Earlier this year she reached the semifinals of the 2024 French Open. 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 WTA Iasi Open tennis tournament is played on outdoor clay courts in Romania between July 22 and 28. Romania’s Anna Bogdan is the reigning champion of the tournament.
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 canceling 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.