BERLIN, April 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Yekaterina Alexandrova breezed past her fellow countrywoman Mirra Andreeva in straight sets on Thursday at the at the 2025 WTA Tennis Tournament in Stuttgart.
In just over an hour, unseeded Alexandrova cruised past 6th-seed Andreeva 6-3; 6-2. She will now play in the quarterfinals against Jessica Pegula of the United States.
Last night, Andreeva earned a bittersweet victory over her sister Erica after the older Andreeva retired in the second set with a knee injury.
"Before the match I was preparing myself for a really difficult match, and some of it was really difficult, despite the score," the WTA official website quoted Alexandrova as saying after the match against Andreeva.
Alexandrova, 30, plays as a neutral athlete at international tennis tournaments. She is currently ranked 22nd in the WTA Rankings and has five career WTA tournament titles under her belt. Her best career finish in Grand Slams was in 2023, when she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. She is also the winner of the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.
Mirra Andreeva, 17, has two WTA titles under her belt. Her best finish at Grand Slams was at the 2024 French Open when she reached the semifinals. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year. Playing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles with partner Diana Shnaider.
The 2025 WTA Tennis Grand Prix tournament is played on indoor clay courts located at the up to 8,000-seat capacity Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany, between April 14 and 21, 2024, and offers over $1 million in prize money. Kazakhstan’s Yelena Rybakina is the tournament’s reigning champion.
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.