The Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva and the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk will meet on Saturday in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open after overcoming the penultimate round this Thursday against the American Hailey Baptiste (6-4, 7-6(8)) and the Austrian Anastasia Potapova (6-2, 1-6, 6-1).
In the first semi-final, Andreeva extended her great season on clay, champion in Linz (Austria) and semi-finalist in Stuttgart, with a third WTA 1000 final after her emergence in 2025. One day after turning 19, the pupil of the Spanish Conchita Martínez enjoyed a great serve and did not have the option of ‘break’.
The Russian broke in the seventh game and with that advantage she scored the first set (6-4), but in the second Baptiste fought, having just given the upset, eliminating the current champion Aryna Sabalenka. After saving six match points against the world number one, the American looked for a little more epic in Manolo Santana and raised another match point against Andreeva to force the tie-break. The American had three balls to force a third set, but the Russian found her effective serve again.
Andreeva, the youngest tennis player to reach three WTA 1000 finals, will have some favoritism on Saturday against Kostyuk who reached her first final in this category. However, the Ukrainian, recent champion in Rouen (France), the second title of her career, took advantage of her great moment of form to remain very much alive in Madrid.
The second semifinal, which closed the tennis this Thursday at the Caja Mágica around twelve at night, was a roller coaster where Potapova was able to recover in the second set. The Austrian’s forceful response was ineffective in the decisive set, when Kostyuk made it 4-0 that unnerved her rival and put her in the most important event of her career.