Mirra Andreeva forced back to Madrid Open just hours after heartbreaking final defeat | Tennis | Sport

Mirra Andreeva was left devastated after losing to Marta Kostyuk in the Madrid Open final. The ninth seed suffered a 6-3 7-5 defeat on Saturday afternoon and cried into a towel immediately after the match. She broke down in tears again when she tried to address her team during her runner-up speech, and later said the defeat felt like it was “the end of the world”.

But the 19-year-old will have to put that all behind her, as she has less than 24 hours to regroup and return to the Manolo Santana Stadium for another match on Sunday. Andreeva is through to the doubles final alongside her partner and countrywoman Diana Shnaider, and they meet No. 2 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the championship match at 1pm local time.

After losing a WTA 1000 final for the first time in her young career, Andreeva said: “Of course today is a hard day. But overall, I think that when we talk with my team, I think we can take a lot of positives from this week. It’s been tough, but overall I think it was a pretty good two weeks for me. The tournament is still not over, so I’m going to try to go for it in doubles tomorrow as well.”

It’s certainly not over, as Andreeva and Shnaider are seeking their third doubles title together. The Russian duo lifted trophies in Brisbane and Miami last year, and also claimed a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics while playing under the Individual Neutral Athletes banner.

But it will be tough for the 19-year-old to get over her straight-sets defeat to Kostyuk in singles. Andreeva blew two set points when Kostyuk served at 4-5 in set two, and sobbed as she attempted to thank her coaches immediately after the match.

After congratulating Kostyuk and thanking the tournament staff and fans, the ninth seed attempted to finish off her speech, but started crying again. “And of course, thanks to my team for always being there for me,” she said before breaking down.

“I’m sorry. I promised myself I’m not going to cry. I’m sorry. I’m just not gonna look at you, because it’s easier like this,” she added, before using her runner-up plate as something of a shield so she didn’t have to look at her box.

And Andreeva was unable to discuss the defeat with her coach, Conchita Martinez, admitting she would just start crying again. “We didn’t talk yet, she just gave me a hug. But every time she would start talking to me I would start crying, so we didn’t talk yet,” she later explained.

The five-time title winner has been known to let her emotions get the better of her on court. During a tumultuous loss in Indian Wells earlier this year, Andreeva seemingly asked her team to leave her box, and yelled “f*** you all” to the crowd as she left the court. Even though she became upset during her speech, Andreeva managed to tame her frustrations. But she admitted that it was still just as difficult to cope with the result.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what’s better, because every time I lose, every time it’s like the end of the world to me. I don’t know, sometimes I see other players, like, smile right after the defeat, right after the matches they lost. To me, I don’t understand how people do it. I wish I could do it,” she said.

“Every match that I lose is obviously very disappointing and very painful to me. I hope that maybe in the future this can improve and I can maybe, after the match that I lose, I can, you know, talk about it right away and not take some time before starting to talk about it.”

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