The young Russian woman lost the thread of the game at the last moment.
The young talent of Russian tennis, Mirra Andreeva, does not often appear at tournaments, since there are age restrictions. According to the rules of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), up to the age of 18, a girl can play a maximum of 16 professional tournaments in one season. Now Mirra is only 16 years old, and therefore every appearance on the court is an event and a mini-celebration.
Andreeva herself tries to get the most out of her game. But at the Masters in Indian Wells, the Russian woman and her fans were in for a severe disappointment.
The girl tried her best to hide her emotions.
There was a chance to repeat the success
Mirra was automatically selected for the thousandth race in Indian Wells, but without a seeding number. Her opponent in the first round was Katie Volynets, an American with Slavic roots. The positions of the tennis players were radically different: in the WTA rankings, Andreeva is in 38th place, and Volynets is in 131st. Mirra and Katie had never met before at professional tournaments.
The winner of the match went to Ons Jabeur, the sixth racket in the world. Fragments of the defeat that Andreeva inflicted on Tunisia at the Australian Open are still fresh in my memory. The hope of repeating success warmed my soul.
However, Volynets also wanted to play with Jaber. And she clearly didn’t want to lose in front of the American public.
Mirra gave the match herself
The match was remembered for very long rallies. Tennis players could hit 20-30 times before earning points. Even in the first set, it became clear that the game would drag on for a long time.
No one was able to achieve a tangible advantage. In the first set, Mirra and Katie traded breaks twice. Andreeva was a little closer to victory, but did not convert her serve when the score was 5:4. This moment became a turning point for the Russian, who gave up three games in a row and lost 5:7.
The second set was more dramatic. Mirra saw it off more confidently, more quickly, and reached a triple set point with the score 5:3. But mistakes in attack neutralized the advantage, and the American managed to pull out a seemingly dead game. This finally broke Andreeva, who openly became unstuck and swam. Comfortable 5:3 turned into fatal 5:7.
Of course, it is worth noting the character of Volynets, who did not give up in a difficult situation. But still, Mirra, alas, gave away this match herself. After 2 hours and 7 minutes, she was forced to admit defeat.
The Russian woman took the loss very hard
Andreeva’s reaction to the final result is indicative. Even on the court, her frustration was visible. Mirra barely restrained herself from crying.
After shaking hands with her opponent and the judge, the Russian woman sat on the bench and covered her face with her hands. The girl took this loss very hard and, it seems, even shed a few tears. One can understand her: there were only a few steps left to victory in both sets. They were not enough for overall success.
Mirra has two weeks to analyze the lesion and draw conclusions. Already on March 19, the “thousander” starts in Miami. In the meantime, Mirra can support her older sister Erica, who has not yet completed her tournament match in Indian Wells. The eldest of the Andreevs is losing to the American Danielle Collins with a score of 6:7, 5:6, and is now waiting for the resumption of the game, which was interrupted due to rain.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
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On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
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(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
