MADRID, April 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Mirra Andreeva advanced to Round 3 of the 2025 Madrid Open tennis tournament in Spain after defeating Marie Bouzkova on Thursday.
The 7th-seeded Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, blasted past her unseeded Czech opponent Bouzkova in straight sets 6-3; 6-4, and is now set to face Poland's Magdalena Frech, seeded 27th, in the next round.
Andreeva, 17, is currently ranked 7th in the WTA Rankings List and she also has three 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.
Bouzkova, 26, is ranked 58th in the WTA Rankings. She has one career WTA title. Her best finish at Grand Slams is making it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2022.
The 2025 Madrid Open is a clay-court tournament played at the Park Manzanares in the Spanish capital between April 22 and May 4. Poland’s Iga Swiatek 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 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.