TOKYO, September 25. /TASS/. Russia's top female racquet Mirra Andreeva has failed to clear the quarterfinals round of the 2026 Singapore Open Tennis tournament following a defeat to Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
In a match that lasted for little over than one hour and thirty minutes, Fernandez defeated the Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at international tournaments, in straight sets 6-2; 7-5.
"It's such a great win," the WTA official website quoted Fernandez as saying after her win over Andreeva. "The way that I played, the way that I fought in the second set. It wasn't an easy match to begin with, physically and then of course mentally. I'm just happy that I was able to get through the finish line today."
The unseeded Canadian player is now set to play in the semifinals against the 5th-seeded Maja Chwalinska from Poland, who earlier breezed past Belgium’s 4th-seeded Elise Mertens with straight-set win 6-2; 6-2.
"Maja, she's such a tough opponent," Fernandez continued speaking about her next match on Saturday. "She's having a great season too. She got to the finals of a Grand Slam. So it's not going to be an easy one. She's playing great. I'm going to kind of regroup tonight."
"After I eat, I just kind of talk with my coaches. I have a video call chat and see what the game plan is going to be like the next day," the Canadian tennis player added.
Fernandez is 24 years old and being currently ranked as the world’s No. 31 she is the winner of five WTA titles. Playing at the Grand Slam series tournaments she reached the final of the 2021 US Open. In 2023, she won the Billie Jean King Cup as part of the Canadian national team.
Andreeva, 19, is currently ranked 5th in the Top-10 of the WTA Rankings. She won the French Open in June and is a six-time WTA title holder overall. 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 Singapore Open is the WTA 500 class tournament played on hard courts of the OCBC Arena in Singapore on September 21-27 and it offers $1.2 million in prize money.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to exclude 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 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 scrapping 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.