Mirra Andreeva admits she’s been ‘surprised’ by what other WTA players have said about her recently

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Mirra Andreeva has matched her previous best performance at this year’s Australian Open.

There are few players with more potential in tennis than Andreeva, who is once again impressing at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

The 17-year-old Russian is the youngest WTA player ranked inside the world’s top 100, and already has a Grand Slam semi-final to her name, losing to Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open last year.

Andreeva began this year’s Australian Open tournament with a comfortable straight-sets win over Marie Bouzkova, 6-3, 6-3.

Things then got a lot more tricky, as the world number 15 was forced to battle past both Moyuka Uchijima, and Magdalena Frech in three sets.

Wins that have set up a big clash with world number one, and two-time defending champion Sabalenka in the fourth round.

Ahead of their match, Andreeva was asked to react to what Sabalenka and other WTA stars have said about her recently.

Mirra Andreeva is ‘surprised’ that Aryna Sabalenka predicted she would finish 2025 in the top ten

Following her third-round win over Frech, Andreeva was asked for her thoughts on a video released earlier this month, that saw several WTA stars predict her to finish 2025 inside the top ten.

“Well, when I saw the video, I was actually pretty surprised that a lot of people said my name,” she said.

“I don’t know, I don’t actually feel any pressure about this.

“I’m sure that it’s a matter of time until I’m in top ten.”

Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur think Andreeva will reach the top ten in 2025, with the latter suggesting that the Russian may pick up her first Grand Slam title this year.

Andreeva is ranked 15th in the world and trails world number ten Daria Kasatkina by just under 500 points.

“I have a lot of points to defend this year, so we’re going to see,” she said.

“It’s pretty interesting for me to see as well how can I deal with that pressure.

“When everyone is saying that, okay, she’s going to be top ten, she’s going to be the first one who will enter the top ten from [the] younger players, I don’t know, I feel like, okay, well, I’m just going to try to do so.”

Andreeva is the only teenager ranked inside the WTA top 100, and is the youngest player left in the Australian Open draw by some margin.

Frech, her opponent in the third round, would be considered by many to be a player entering their prime years, at 27 years old, but was remarkably ten years Andreeva’s senior in their match.

Something that has become quite a common occurrence for Andreeva at this year’s tournament

None of her opponents would be considered ‘old’ by any means, but all have significantly more experience than the young Russian.

Mirra Andreeva predicts 17-year-old Alina Korneeva to break out on the WTA Tour

Later in her press conference, Andreeva was asked whether there are any youngsters that she thinks has the potential to break out onto the WTA Tour in the near future.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she said.

“Like, teenagers… well, I know that Alina Korneeva, the girl I played in the 2023 final, I think that she could have potential.”

Alina Korneeva beat Andreeva in the 2023 Australian Open Junior final and is currently ranked 177th in the world.

“I know her, I know her for a long time, so I think that she could play really good on the WTA circuit,” said Andreeva.

“So I think that, because I don’t know anybody else, and I think she actually has a good potential, so let’s just say her.”

Korneeva failed to qualify for this year’s Australian Open, losing in the first round of qualifying to Italian legend Sara Errani.

Andreeva will take on Sabalenka in the fourth round of this year’s tournament on Sunday, January 19.