WASHINGTON, March 20. /TASS/. Russia’s top female tennis player Mirra Andreeva has advanced to Round 3 of the 2026 WTA Miami Open tournament after she defeated Kessler McCartney of the United States.
In a match that lasted just under two hours, the 8th-seeded Andreeva, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, claimed the win from her unseeded US opponent McCartney 6-1; 6-7 (3-7); 6-1.
"I’m kind of learning from my mistakes, I guess," the official WTA website quoted Andreeva as saying in her on-court interview after the win over McCartney.
"So I’m just super happy to win this match, super happy to get the win tonight…this morning. She’s an amazing player, a very dangerous opponent, so I’m just super happy to get revenge against her and to advance further in the tournament," Andreeva added.
The Russian tennis player is now set to play in the next round against 32nd-seed Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic. Bouzkova reached Round 3 of the tournament with a straight-set win of 6-2; 6-2 over Elsa Jacquemont from France.
Andreeva, 18, is a four-time WTA champion. She is currently Russia's top-ranked female player at 10th 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 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 Miami Open tennis tournament is classified as a 1,000-level event by the WTA (the Women’s Tennis Association). It is played on hard courts at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, between March 17 and 29 and offers $9.4 million in prize money. Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus is the reigning champion of the tournament.
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 on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in 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.