BEIJING, October 1. /TASS/. Russia’s top female racquet Mirra Andreeva fell in the fourth round of the 2025 China Open on Wednesday, losing to World No. 81 Sonay Kartal from the United Kingdom.

In a match that lasted 2 hours and 25 minutes, the unseeded Kartal edged out the 4th-seeded Andreeva, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, 7-5; 2-6; 7-5.

"I watched a lot of her matches so I was aware of what she was going to try and do, how she was going to try and attack my game style," the official WTA website quoted Kartal as saying after the match. "So I just tried to be super unpredictable and in big moments play brave tennis."

"I've been working on being more aggressive in the bigger moments - maybe not something I've been willing to do much in recent matches, but in this match I knew I had no choice," the 23-year-old British player added.

In the quarterfinals, Kartal will play against the 26th-seed Linda Noskova from the Czech Republic.

This was Andreeva’s third defeat this year to a player outside the WTA Top-50. All three of them have come since June. She lost to French Lois Boisson in the quarterfinals of the 2025 French Open, then to Taylor Townsend from the United States in the third round of the 2025 US Open and now to Kartal.

Andreeva, 18, is a three-time WTA champion. She is currently Russia's top-ranked female player at 5th place in the WTA Rankings. 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 paired with Diana Shnaider.

The 2025 China Open is a WTA 1,000 event. Its 24th edition is played on outdoor courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing between September 24 and October 5. This year’s tourney offers over $8.9 million in prize money. Coco Gauff from the United States 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 moved to exclude 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 participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.