Brisbane | Andreeva starts season with a win

Three WTA tournaments provide start of season warm-ups for players not involved in representing their countries in the United Cup, with the WTA 500 Brisbane International presented by Evie leading the way with a Sunday start, while the WTA 250 ASB Classic begins on Monday in Auckland, New Zealand alongside the WTA 125 Workday Canberra International.

I felt like I didn’t have enough time to prepare for this season, but for me it’s okay. If I didn’t have time to work really hard, I’m not sad. Maybe next time I will try to have a longer pre-season, but this time it’s okay. Mirra Andreeva

16-year old Mirra Andreeva got her 2024 season off to a good start by defeating her Russian compatriot, 19-year-old Diana Shnaider, 6-2 6-3, in the 1st-round on Day 1, and will face another fellow countrywoman in Liudmila Samsonova, the 4th seed, in the round 2.

Andreeva finished 2023 ranked at No 57 and was voted WTA Newcomer of the Year, and she has picked up right where she left off after her break-through year.

The teenager successfully blunted Shnaider’s powerful baseline game to ease through a 75-minute victory, going unbroken in the match and saving the sole break point she faced, which came in the penultimate game of the match.

“Honestly, I was very, very nervous before this match because I know Diana for a long time,” Andreeva told WTA Insider. “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.”

After six days at home following her final tournament in Hong Kong, Andreeva was back on court, having spent much of the off-season playing club tennis in France and an exhibition in the Middle East.

“I felt like I didn’t have enough time to prepare for this season, but for me it’s okay,” Andreeva said. “If I didn’t have time to work really hard, I’m not sad. Maybe next time I will try to have a longer pre-season, but this time it’s okay.”

She is looking forward to her Australian Open main draw debut, where last year she was a runner-up in the girls’ competition.

Sloane Stephens saw off Katerina Siniakova in her opening match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament on Sunday

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In other early results, Australian wild-card Anastasia Rodionova continued her outstanding run of form to defeat World No 42 Martina Trevisan from Italy, 6-3 6-2.

Rodionova, who is 34, won back-to-back events on the ITF World Tour in November and December to boost her ranking up to No 114, and her win over Trevisan is her first Top 50 victory since January 2020.

Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens from the USA saw off Czech Katerina Siniakova, 7-5 6-3, while  Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova got past another American, Caroline Dolehide, 3-6 6-4 6-2.

In the top half of the draw, Spain’s Cristina Bucsa opened her account with a 5-7 6-3 6-1 win over Greet Minnen from Belgium; Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine outlasted Romanian Ana Bogdan, 4-6 6-3 6-3; Italy’s Camila Giorgi made her way past Peyton Stearns from the USA, 5-7 6-2 6-3; and Anna Kalinskaya from Russia dispatched American Bernarda Pera, 6-2 6-1.

World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed at the Brisbane International tennis WTA 500 tournament

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Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina are the top two seeds in Brisbane, and former World No 1 Naomi Osaka will play her first match since September of 2022.

Sabalenka is at the top of the draw as the No 1 seed. She had a hot start in Australia last year, triumphing in Adelaide before going on to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open two weeks later.

The Belarusian World No 2 will play either Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti or Ashlyn Krueger from the USA in the 2nd-round.

Also in the first quarter is No 5 seed Daria Kasatkina from Russia, Polish No 9 seed Magda Linette, No 15 seed Zhu Lin from China and 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins.

Japan’s Osaka resides in the second quarter, and she will face Tamara Korpatsch from Germany in the 1st-round in their first career meeting.

Korpatsch, currently ranked World No 84, won her maiden WTA singles title at the end of last season in Cluj-Napoca.

Osaka, who won two of her four Grand Slam titles Down Under at the 2019 and 2021 Australian Opens, will be contesting her first match on the Hologic WTA Tour since Tokyo 15 months ago after having given birth to her first child in July.

If Osaka wins her opening match, she will face another former World No 1, 16th-seeded Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic, in the 2nd-round, while 3rd-seeded Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia could await that winner in the Round of 16.

Yet another former World No 1, 8th-seeded Victoria Azarenka, from Belarus is on the other side of this quarter.

Samsonova leads the third quarter, where she faces Andreeva, in the 2nd-round, and No 14 seed Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion from the USA, could await in the Round of 16.

No 7 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia and 10th seed Sorana Cirstea from Romania are also in this quarter, as is Czech teenager Linda Noskova. Twelve months ago, Noskova reached the 2023 Adelaide final as a 102nd-ranked qualifier.

No 2 seed Rybakina rounds out the bottom of the draw. The 2022 Wimbledon champion reached last year’s Australian Open final, will meet either Australian hope Kimberly Birrell or a qualifier in round 2.

No 6 seed Veronika Kudermetova from Russia sits at the other end of this quarter, with Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, also in this quarter, who will face 13th-seeded Elise Mertens from Belgium next.