SYDNEY, January 12. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva cleared the opening round of the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament on Sunday defeating Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic.
In a match that lasted for 1 hour 34 minutes, the 14th-seed Russian blazed past her unseeded Czech opponent with straight sets win 6-3; 6-3. Andreeva, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, is now set to face in the next round against the winner of the match between Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima and Magda Linette from Poland.
Andreeva, 17, is currently ranked 15th in the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series was reaching the semifinals of the 2024 French Open. She is the winner of one the WTA titles and the 2024 Paris Olympics silver medalist in tennis pairs. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year.
The 2025 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 12-26 and has a purse of $59.7 million in prize money up for grabs. The opening tournament of the annual Grand Slam series in Australia marks its 113th edition this year. Italy’s Jannik Sinner 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 canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women 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.