Synchronized exit: Andreeva, Schneider and Medvedev continue the battle for the trophy

Four Russians continue to fight for the title of the super tournament in Madrid. Mirra Andreeva, Diana Schneider and Anastasia Potapova made it to the 1/8 finals. Ekaterina Aleksandrova is waiting for a third-round match with Daria Kasatkina, who has recently been playing for Australia. Daniil Medvedev confidently advanced to the 1/8 finals in the men's Masters, beating Juan Manuel Cerundolo in an hour. But Andrey Rublev unexpectedly lost to Alexander Bublik in the third round and for the first time since 2020 he will drop out of the top 15 of the rating.

After the break

Daniil Medvedev reached the third round of the Masters in Madrid without a game. The Russian was scheduled to play his first match on April 25, but his opponent Laszlo Jere withdrew before entering the court. But the Russian's new opponent, Juan Manuel Cherundolo, has already played four matches in Spain. In qualifying, he defeated Thiago Seybot Wild and Botik van de Sandshulp, and in the main draw, after a strong-willed victory over Alexander Kovachevich, he knocked out last year's finalist Felix Auger-Alliassim in two games.

Daniel and Juan Manuel met each other for the first time. Medvedev is currently 10th in the ranking, while Cherundolo is 126th. At the same time, the Argentine had never beaten a top-10 player in his career, so this meeting was a kind of challenge for him. However, it did not work out to impose a serious fight on the titled Russian. Cherundolo took only four games in two sets.

Medvedev showed a great game, especially considering that it was his first match in more than two weeks. Yes, the opponent was not top-level, but still, in the last round, he knocked out last year's finalist.

Medvedev's opponent in the 1/8 finals is already known — he will be an American of Japanese and Vietnamese descent, Brandon Nakashima. The future competitors played hard court in Indian Wells two years ago, and then Daniel won with a score of 6:4, 6:3.

Unfortunately, Andrey Rublev could not support Daniil's initiative. He passed the second round by removing Gael Monfils, and in the third he could not cope with Alexander Bublik. Although before the meeting, Andrey confidently led his friend in personal meetings (5:2), and took the second set with the "steering wheel". But in the third game Rublev seemed to be replaced. As a result, our tennis player will lose 950 points and drop out of the top 15 (currently 17th in the live ranking). The last time the 27-year-old Muscovite was so low in the rating was in 2020.

On Monday, April 28, another representative of the Russian three, Karen Khachanov, will compete for a ticket to the 1/8 finals. After defeating Riley Opelka, Karen will play against 11th seed Tommy Paul.

Meeting with the current

Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider unexpectedly lost early in the doubles, but they triumphantly played third-round singles matches. Diana had no problems at all in the match against Latvia's Anastasia Sevastova — she did not give up a single game (6:0, 6:0) and finished the match in just 44 minutes. Schneider was superior to her opponent in everything, but her advantage at the reception looked especially powerful — Sevastova practically did not cause problems with her serve.

It was the third time in her career that Schneider had closed a game with two steers, but it was the first time she had done so at the WTA level. Before the start of the clay part of the season, the Russian had a new coach — she has been working under the guidance of Dinara Safina for the last few weeks and has already come close to a career high in the WTA rankings. She is currently ranked 13th, and in May 2024 she was 12th. In the next round, Schneider will face world number two and reigning tournament champion Iga Sventek.

17-year-old Mirra did not look so confident with the representative of Poland Magdalena French. The first set was really difficult for the young Russian: she made a lot of mistakes (22 unforced errors and three doubles against her opponent's 19 and zero, respectively), and Freh looked decent in defense - she forced Andreeva to play in the back line and at the same time sometimes turned on a powerful pressure.

The Russian did not serve for a long time — in the first set she won only 66.7% of the first—ball draws (Freh - 72.2). After Magdalena equalized the score on her serve (5-5), Andreeva almost shed tears. But at the right moment, our athlete was saved by a trick: after an alarming episode, Mirra immediately made a reverse break and then took her serve. The first set ended 7-5 and lasted 59 minutes.

In the second set, the Russian felt much more confident, having scored a winning game at the reception (6:3). It is no coincidence that she is the leader of the tour this season in breaks on the "thousands". In the next round, Mirra will face Ukrainian Yulia Starodubtseva, who beat another Russian, Lyudmila Samsonova, in her match. Last year, Andreeva reached the quarterfinals of the tournament — in order not to lose points in the WTA rankings, she needs to repeat the result.

Anastasia Potapova, who defeated Sofia Kenin, also qualified for 1/8. The match lasted almost three hours, and in the tiebreak of the decisive set, the Russian won back two matchballs from the American. In the fourth round, Potapova will face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.