TASS, July 25. 

Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva has reached the final of the 2024 WTA Iasi Open tennis tournament in Romania after defeating Olga Danilovic of Croatia on Thursday.

In a match that lasted for 2 hours and 38 minutes, top-seeded Andreeva, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, outplayed her Croatian opponent with the final score 3-6; 6-3; 7-6 (7-1).

"Honestly, I imagined that I already lost the match, so I just changed my mindset and just go for it, no matter what," the WTA official website quoted Andreeva as saying after the match. "I tried to keep playing my aggressive game, but the most important [thing] was finding the balance between rushing and waiting for the mistakes. I managed to find the balance today in this match."

"It was an amazing battle. She's an amazing player, very talented. It was very hard to play against her, and I'm very happy with my win today," Andreeva stated.

The Russian tennis player is now set to face off in the final of the tournament against her compatriot Elina Avanesyan, who defeated earlier in the day France’s Chloe Paquet from France booking straight sets win of 6-2; 6-3.

"[Reaching my first final] feels great: another milestone reached for me this year," Andreeva said. "I'm trying not to think about it. It's already been a positive week for me, but of course I want to go for more this week."

Andreeva, 17, 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.

Avanesyan is 21 years old and she is currently ranked 76th in the WTA Rankings. As of today she has not won any of the WTA titles and her best result playing at the Grand Slam tournaments was reaching Round 4 of the French Open in 2023 and 2024.

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.