MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. Russia’s top female racquet should have no problems defeating Austria’s Anastasia Potapova in Round 4 of the 2026 US Open, President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS on Monday.
"Mirra is the favorite to win her upcoming match. Given how she has played up to now, Andreeva should defeat Potapova," Tarpishchev told TASS. "It’s particularly worth noting that she’s never lost to her [Potapova] before [in their previous head-to-head encounters]."
According to official statistics provided by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), Potapova and Andreeva have met four times prior, with the latter winning three of those contests
Andreeva, 19, won the French Open in June and is a six-time WTA title holder overall. She is currently 5th in the WTA Rankings. In 2023, Andreeva was named WTA rookie of the year. At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles paired with Diana Shnaider.
The 2026 US Open is played on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York between August 30 and September 13. The tournament will award a record $108 million in prize money. Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz are the tournament’s reigning champions in women’s and men’s singles respectively.
Russian tennis players are participating in international tournaments under a neutral status. The US Open is no exception.
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.