WTA Brisbane: 16-year-old Andreeva wins battle of the teens over Shnaider

In a clash between two of the highly-touted teenagers on the WTA Tour, it was 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva who came out on top over 19-year-old Diana Shnaider in the first round of the WTA Brisbane International on Sunday.

Andreeva, who was named the 2023 WTA Newcomer of the Year and peaked at No 46 in the rankings in November, needed one hour and 15 minutes to oust Shnaider 6-2, 6-3. The win sets up an all-Russian clash against fourth seed Liudmila Samsonova in the second round.

“Honestly, I was very, very nervous before this match because I know Diana for a long time,” Andreeva told the WTA website. “Erika played with her on a team, so I know her very well. So I was super happy to get the win today. I tried to stay low in my legs because the courts really fast compared to Abu Dhabi where I practiced before. So the first few days were not the best for me, but I tried to do my best. Today, I’m really happy with my level.”

Ranked No 57 in the world currently, Andreeva’s immediate goal is to get to the top 30 and the 16-year-old is working on improving her serve to help her get there.

“I’m pretty tall, I think, so to have free points with my serve would be great. We are improving and working on my serve and I think it’s getting better. It’s still not the best serve that I can get, but we are working every day for it and we will see if I will improve or not,” she said.

In other first round results of the WTA 500 event on Sunday, former US Open champion Sloane Stephens scored a 7-5, 6-3 win over Katerina Sinakova but three other American women lost their opening matches.

Anna Kalinskaya defeated American Bernarda Pera 6-2, 6-1, Italy’s Camila Giorgi came from a set down to beat American Peyton Stearns 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, and Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova defeated American Caroline Dolehide 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Elsewhere, Australian wild card Anastasia Rodionova defeated Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-2 and Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk scored a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Ana Bogdan to both advance to the second round.

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