MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. One half of the semifinals bracket at the 2026 Adelaide International tennis tournament in Australia this week will pit two of Russia’s best female players, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, against each other.

Earlier today, the 9th-seeded Shnaider, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, won her quarterfinals match against 6th-seeded Emma Navarro of the United States in straight sets 6-3; 6-3. Hours later, the 3rd-seeded Andreeva breezed past Australia’s Maya Joint in straight sets 6-3; 6-1, earning a date with compatriot Shnaider.

In the other semifinals match in Adelaide, Australia’s own Kimberly Birrel will square off versus 8th-seeded Victoria Mboko of Canada.

Andreeva and Shnaider have faced off against each other only once, in the first round of a 2023 WTA event in Brisbane, with Andreeva coming out on top 6-2; 6-3.

Andreeva and Shnaider do have more history playing on the same court however, as they won silver medals at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris playing as a pair in women’s doubles.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the WTA that was later provided to TASS, Andreeva summed up her relationship with Shnaider as "friends off the court" and "opponents on the court."

"I’m a little bit confused because we are kind of friends, but here [on the court] we are not friends, here we have to be opponents," she said.

"I’m trying really not to think about if she [Shnaider] is my friend, or if we are best friends who have known each other for their whole life," Andreeva continued. "I am just trying to think that she is an opponent that I have to face and that’s it."

"On the court we are strangers, but it still has to be that you have to respect each other and I am not going to scream ‘come on’ in her face. I want to say that she is my opponent on the court and no matter what happens I think we are still going to be friends off the court. I am sure she has the same mindset about this…," she added.

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.

Shnaider, 21, is currently ranked 23rd in the WTA Rankings. She holds five WTA titles. Her best run in Grand Slams was at the 2024 US Open, when she reached Round 4.

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.