SYDNEY, January 21. /TASS/. Russia’s top female racquet Mirra Andreeva cleared the second round of this year’s first Grand Slam series tournament, the 2026 Australian Open on Wednesday, defeating Maria Sakkari of Greece.
The 8th-seeded Andreeva, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, breezed past unseeded Sakkari in straight sets 6-0; 6-4 and is now set to play in the third round against Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
"We know that Maria is a very aggressive player," the official WTA (Women Tennis Association) website quoted Andreeva as saying after the match. "She likes to take her forehand. She likes to also take her backhand, as well. I kind of tried to neutralize her shots on the baseline."
"I just tried to be solid, but at the same time when I have an opportunity to step in and take an advantage of whatever position I'm in, I would try to do that," she continued.
"I felt like in the second set, really had a tough couple of games where it could have gone either way. So about that I'm just happy that it went my way and we didn't have to play the third set," the Russian player concluded.
Andreeva, 18, is a four-time WTA champion. She is currently Russia's top-ranked female player at 7th 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 2026 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park between January 18 and February 1 and has a purse of some $75 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 114th edition of the tournament. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and American Madison Keys are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
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.