Midi fashion: Andreeva and Schneider took the second "thousandth"

Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider became the champions of the WTA 1000 doubles tournament in Rome. In the final, the Russians beat Kristina Buksha and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in two sets. After the reunification, the silver medalists of the 2024 Olympics won nine out of ten matches. It is a pity that after such results Andreeva decided not to play the doubles tournament at Roland Garros. Daniil Medvedev, who reached the semifinals, won the best singles performance from the Russians in the Eternal City.

The return of the MiDi

Last season, the Madrid-Rome MiDi stopped at the 1/8 finals in the Spanish capital and lost the finals in Italy to Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani (their opponents in the decisive match of the 2024 Games). This year, Mirra and Diana decided to take a break from each other after the unsuccessful Final 2025 in Riyadh (where our couple suffered three defeats). Andreeva played only three doubles tournaments: in Brisbane, she reached the quarterfinals with Ekaterina Alexandrova, and with Victoria Mboko, she reached 1/4 in Indian Wells and 1/8 in Miami. Schneider regularly combined a single and a couple. Diana managed to play with Lyudmila Samsonova, Alexandra Panova and Linda Noskova. However, it was not possible to achieve the same team chemistry with anyone as with Mirra, so the Russian dropped out of the top 20 doubles.

In mid-April, Mirra announced that she and Diana had agreed to play together on clay super tournaments and their reunion immediately brought incredible results. Our girls beat Anastasia Detyuk in Madrid./Katarzyna Peter, Elise Mertens/Zhang Shuai, Ellen Perez/Demi Schurs and Vera Zvonareva/Laura Siegemund. In the final, the Russians led with a break and served for a set (with the score 5:4), but in the end, the first game went to Katerina Sinyakova and Taylor Townsend. This moment was a turning point and allowed the Czech and American to lead 3-0 in personal meetings with Andreeva and Schneider, and at the same time to lead the doubles ranking.

In Rome, the Russians managed to avoid meeting the formidable duo. Sinyakova and Townsend finished their way in the semifinals, losing to seventh-seeded Nicole Melicar-Martinez./Kristina Buksha. The American-Spanish pair became the main sensation of the Roman "thousandth", winning all their matches in two sets. The MiDi, who took two championship tiebreakers, were moving towards the final on a parallel course. In the second round — Desiree Kravchik and Lyudmila Kichenok (10:6), in the quarterfinals — Anna Danilova/Angie Muhammad (11:9). In the semifinals, Mirra and Diana allowed Jessica Pegula and Storm Hunter to take only three games, and then Melikar-Martinez and Bukshe didn't leave any chances. In both sets of the finals, they made a quick break and easily brought it to victory.

For MiDi, this is the second joint title of the doubles "thousandth" in his career. Earlier in March 2025, they won a tournament in Miami (then they also beat Buksha and Japanese Mia Kato in the final). For the victory in Rome, the Russians will receive 368,630 euros in prize money.

"With normal work, they should win gold in Los Angeles," Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation, told Izvestia. — The potential is great, it must not be lost.

It is a pity that after such a successful performance on clay, Diana and Mirra will not play at Roland Garros 2026. Last year in Paris, the Russians reached the semifinals. Andreeva decided to focus on singles, where she will have to defend 400 points. Diana, on the other hand, will play with Leila Fernandez, who leads 3-1 in personal meetings, and recently beat the Canadian at a tournament in Charleston. Eight more duets with Russian women have also been announced for the clay Grand Slam doubles tournament.:

Anna Kalinskaya/Sorana Kirstya, Vera Zvonareva/Laura Siegemund, Lyudmila Samsonova/Beatrice Haddad Maya, Ekaterina Alexandrova/Haojing Zhan, Irina Khromacheva/Anastasia Decyuk, Maria Kozyreva and Irina Shimanovich, Alexandra Panova and Harriet Dart, Elena Pridankina/Tang Qianhui.

Masters and favorites: Rublev and Khachanov enliven the season in Rome

For the first time in many months, Russian tennis players reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in sync, and Mirra Andreeva lost to Coco Gauff again.

Medvedev again stopped a step away from the final

The millennial year in Rome was quite successful for the Russians. Andrey Rublev got into the top 8 of the Masters for the first time since April last year, when he reached this stage in Madrid. Karen Khachanov has not been in the quarterfinals of such tournaments since August 2025, but broke the series. Daniil Medvedev supported them in Italy.

However, it was at this stage that everything began to collapse. First, Karen flew out from Kasper Ruud (1:6, 6:1, 2:6). Then Andrey lost to Yannick Sinner. (2:6, 4:6). The ninth racket of the world had to interrupt the unsuccessful series of our compatriots. Daniil's opponent was 20-year-old Martin Landaluse, who did not lose a single set in this tournament in confrontations with Martin Cilic, Mattia Bellucci and Hamad Medjedovic.

Daniil easily lost the first set to the talented Spaniard, but then he was able to level the game and take a ticket to the semifinals. There, Medvedev forced the fight on world number one Yannick Sinner. Daniil managed to take a set from the Italian for the first time in the last five face-to-face matches, snatching a game at the end of the second game (7-5).

There was a feeling that Sinner was seriously tired. Some of these guesses came true in the middle of the third set, when Yannick took a medical time-out. Literally a game later, the game was interrupted again, but this time because of the weather: torrential rain began in the Italian capital. The pause was seriously prolonged — the match resumed after about 18 hours. It was a great opportunity for Medvedev, who was down 2-4 before the break, to make a comeback. And he held on as best he could: he did not allow Yannick to increase the advantage in the seventh game, and left with a double matchball in the ninth. But that wasn't enough — at the crucial moment, the Italian closed all the questions with two aces and secured entry to the final.

Thanks to the successful game in Rome, Daniel added 300 points and rose to 8th place in the world ranking.

The Rome tournament showed that Russian tennis players are gradually returning to leading positions in both singles and doubles. This was especially vividly confirmed by Andreeva and Schneider: even after a pause, their duo remains one of the strongest in the world. And although MiDi will perform separately at the upcoming Roland Garros, the results of recent weeks make it clear that by the 2028 Olympics Russia may have one of the main contenders for gold in women's doubles.