Mirra Andreeva suffers major blow ahead of U.S. Open

Russia’s Mirra Andreeva has suffered a major blow ahead of the Cincinnati Open. The 18-year-old recently featured at the Canadian Open, where she was knocked out after losing in the round of 32 to McCartney Kessler in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4.

In that contest, Andreeva suffered an ankle injury, which has now pushed her out of the upcoming Cincinnati Open. The WTA 1000 event is set to begin on Aug. 7, where some of the best players will participate to lift the title. It is not clear whether Andreeva will be able to gain full fitness for the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, the U.S. Open, which will start from Aug. 24.

The recent development comes as a severe blow in Andreeva’s hopes of having a good preparation for the US Open, especially after having a decent time during the same competition last year where she cemented a spot in the quarterfinal, only to lost to six-time Grand Slam winner Poland’s Iga Swiatek with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. On her way to the last eight, Andreeva defeated fifth-seed and two-time Grand Slam runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the round of 16 with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Andreeva’s record at the US Open does not make for great reading as well, which means that even if she recovers in time, she will have a hard time improving her record while playing at the Flashing Meadows. It is the only Grand Slam where Andreeva has never got past the second round. Her best appearance came in the 2023 and 2024 editions, where on both occasions, she was knocked out after losing in the round of 64.

Big setback

That defeat ended Andreeva’s run of three consecutive quarterfinal appearances this season, in which she lost all three. At the French Open, Andreeva lost to France’s Lois Boisson in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-3. Then in Homburg, Andreeva came second-best in the last-eight contest to Linda Noskova in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3. Her most recent defeat in the quarterfinals came at Wimbledon, where Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6.

Even though the outing against Bencic did not go as planned, it was still Andreeva’s best performance while playing at Wimbledon. Talking after the defeat, Andreeva stated that she was keen to work on being more aggressive on the court and making fewer mistakes.

“A little bit more focused, less mistakes and more aggressive,” she said in July while explaining her future goals. “Today is a hard day, but I can take a lot of positives from these two weeks, for sure. We’re going to move on and improve. The next practice I have, I’m going to try to focus on practicing on being aggressive, trying to step into the court when I play points, maybe play even more volleys, keep improving my serve and my returns. 

"There are plenty of things that Conchita has in mind. We are going to talk about it. We’re going to share our thoughts, and we’re going to go from there. When I’m on the court and something is not working and doesn’t go my way, I get frustrated because I want everything to be perfect. But we all know that perfection doesn’t exist, especially on the tennis court. I used to struggle a lot with this, not kind of forgiving myself for making a mistake or just putting the wrong shot in the court. Now I feel like it’s getting better. I feel like it can maybe bother me for, I don’t know, one, two points.”