SYDNEY, January 15. /TASS/. Russia’s top female racquet Mirra Andreeva reached the semifinals of the 2026 Adelaide International tennis tournament on Thursday after defeating Australia’s Maya Joint on her home turf.
It took the 3rd-seeded Andreeva, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, one hour and seven minutes to breeze past her unseeded opponent in straight sets 6-3; 6-1.
In the next round, she will play against her Russian compatriot Diana Shnaider, who earlier in the day also needed just two sets to take down 6th-seeded Emma Navarro from the United States 6-3; 6-3.
Andreeva, 18, is a three-time WTA champion. She is currently Russia's top-ranked female player at 8th 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 Adelaide International is a WTA 500 tennis tournament, which first took place in 2020. It is played on outdoor hard courts at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre. This year, the tournament runs between January 12 and 17. Madison Keys of the United States is the tournament’s reigning champion.
Russian and Belarusian 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.