Court blanche: Andreeva and Medvedev got the first seeding numbers in Asia

Russian tennis leaders Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev did not take a break after their performance at the US Open and will play official matches again this week. Mirra will be the first seed at the Singapore tournament (WTA 500), where her main rivals will be Alexandra Aela, Elise Mertens and Leila Fernandez. Medvedev also topped the starting list in Hangzhou (ATP 250), where Andrey Rublev and Roman Safiullin will also compete. Daniil and Andrey can only meet in the finals, but given the poor form of our leading players, it's hard to believe in such a scenario.

Andreeva became the first seed at the WTA 500 tournament in Singapore.

Initially, American Jessica Pegula was supposed to be the seeding leader in Singapore, but the third racket of the world decided to withdraw from the tournament (physical fatigue). As a result, the status of the first seed passed to Andreeva. And if Pegula's decision was known in advance, then the second seed Amanda Anisimova withdrew from the pentathlon due to a wrist injury on the eve of the match with Tyla Gibson. In the main draw, the 11th racket of the world will be replaced by lucky loser and 296th racket of the world Victoria Morvayova.

Thanks to the first seeding number, Mirra missed the first round, and in the second she will face Belarusian Alexandra Sasnovich. They had previously met only once, in 2024 at a tournament in Iasi. Then Andreeva beat Alexandra in the 1/8 finals and paved the way for her debut title at the WTA level (she won against Elina Avetisyan in the final). It should be noted that in the opening match in Singapore, Sasnovich beat Daria Kasatkina with the "steering wheel". A native of Tolyatti, after switching to the flag of Australia, continues her decline in the ranking. The former eighth racket of the world is in 83rd place in the live rating (although she no longer needs to protect points until the end of the year).

In the potential quarterfinals, Mirra can play against Leila Fernandez (2-2 in personal meetings), and in the semifinals — with the current winner of the tournament, Elise Mertens. The Belgian Andreeva leads 1-0, having beaten her in Rome this year.

"Does the status of the first seed put pressure on me? No. I don't feel pressure because of the need to win, because if you look at the grid, the tournament is pretty strong," The Tennis Gazette quotes Andreeva as saying. — There are a lot of great tennis players playing here, so it doesn't matter to me whether I'm the first seed or not. I'm just going to go out on the court, try to show my best and win every match I can. The courts seemed very good to me. I feel like I can play great here, I'm finding my rhythm."

The favorites of the other part of the grid will be former world number three Maria Sakkari and Alexandra Aela, who is having a breakthrough season. The latter will play Russian Tatiana Prozorova in the 1/8 finals. In case of victory over the representative of the Philippines, Prozorova will be able to return to the top 150 (career record - 140th position).

Court list: how have the positions of our tennis players in the world rankings changed?

Andreeva moved closer to the Final tournament, Medvedev rose to sixth place, and Khachanov made a breakthrough after the US Open.

It should be noted that this year the organizers of Singapore for the first time raised the tournament category from WTA 250 to WTA 500. Last year, the tournament was held at the junction of January and February. Anna Kalinskaya performed the best of all the Russians, reaching the semifinals.

In parallel, the Asian WTA series started in Seoul. Russia will continue to be represented there by Alina Korneeva and Daria Astakhova, who will compete for a place in the quarterfinals.

Medvedev and Rublev will play at the ATP 250 tournament in Hangzhou

The men's Asian series began with two tournaments in China. In Chengdu, Valentin Vachero and Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina received the first and second seeding numbers, in Hangzhou — Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. The Russians' main competitors are likely to be Thomas Martin Etcheverry and Kenten Alice. Roman Safiullin will try to stop the latter's progress if he beats the qualifier at the start.

The Hangzhou tournament has been held since 2024. The first champion was the titled Croatian Marin Cilic. Last year, Alexander Bublik celebrated the victory by beating Valentin Royer in the final (in 2026, the representative of Kazakhstan decided to skip the tournament and will now drop out of the top 20). Interestingly, Rublev was the first seed a year ago, but he was eliminated at the start by the same Royer.

This time, Andrey will try to avoid a sensational defeat. In the second round, he will face Rinki Hijikata (the 82nd racket of the world) or the qualifier. Jaime Faria (68) is likely to be waiting for him in the potential quarterfinals, and Etcheverry (30) in the semifinals. It should be noted that this season Rublev has a negative balance against top-50 players: five wins with eight losses. Against the top 100 — 10:7. With such instability, it is difficult to count on the decisive stages of even the ATP 250 tournaments. At the same time, a 28-year-old Russian can always pleasantly surprise. This year he won the title in Bostad and reached the final in Barcelona.

Medvedev will play in Hangzhou for the first time and will start the tournament with a match against Adam Walton (99th in the world) or Royet. Daniel Vallejo (58) is waiting for him in the potential quarterfinals, and Kenten Alice (49) in the semifinals. Daniil is having a more stable season than Rublev. If he wins, he can strengthen into the top 8 of the ATP championship race and return to the top 5 of the ranking. At the US Open, the 30-year-old Russian showed that he can still beat top 50 tennis players quite easily on the hard court. Hopefully, this trend will continue in Asia.