Her run in Madrid left mixed feelings after a heavy defeat in the final. With two previous WTA 1000 titles, she arrived slightly as favourite against Kostyuk, but the Ukrainian star outplayed her in straight sets, showing conviction in key moments against an Andreeva who ended the day in tears during the trophy ceremony.
It had been a couple of positive weeks in Madrid, defeating players such as Leylah Fernandez and Hailey Baptiste on her way to the final. She also returned to doubles with Diana Shnaider again as her partner, reaching the final in their first tournament together since the WTA Finals last year, although Andreeva again ended in disappointment after being defeated in the final by Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.
Andreeva turns to Nadal philosophy after Madrid defeat
Andreeva mentioned in her press conference that she does not want to think too much about what happened in Madrid and hopes to take the next step in Rome instead. “Now Madrid is kind of in the past, so we have to forget about what happened there and try to put all of the focus that you have to try and perform well here in Rome.”
“Well, as Rafa said, what happened in Madrid happened,” said Andreeva with a smile in her press conference. “So here we are in Rome. I saw that video this morning, so I’m trying to adopt that mindset to approach each new tournament after a result that wasn’t good. I mean, it wasn’t the result I wanted. I’m just going to try to keep that mindset.”
Andreeva details tactical preparation ahead of Rome debut
Andreeva hopes to adapt quickly to the conditions in Rome in order to maintain her strong clay-court results, where she has already defeated high-level opponents such as 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek on her preferred surface.
Mirra Andreeva celebrating the victory in the game, she raises her arms during the Mutua Madrid Open reaching her first Madrid semifinal
“I understand that these were a very good couple of weeks on clay, three consecutive weeks I was playing a final, I won one tournament, I lost in the final,” Andreeva said. “Overall I would say it’s an amazing start to the clay season. Obviously now I think I’m not very happy with that because obviously every tournament I play I really want to go for it and I really want to win it.
“There are two sides of how I think about that,” the world No. 7 added. “I try to put myself on the more positive side and really think that those were great weeks on clay. Try to keep going.”
“She always asks me if I know how my opponent plays. But then when I say if I know how the opponent plays, I just tell my point of view, then she either gives more advice or corrects me sometimes if I’m wrong. Then she shows me statistics. She has her notes as well that she writes to show, then we both discuss how to play.”