Mirra Andreeva will compete at the 2024 Rouen Open, her first event in over a month, and her first match will be against former Roland Garros semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska.
The Russian player's breakout happened across surfaces last year, but clay was where she first showed her tremendous potential. She's going to return to clay this week at the WTA 250 tournament in Rouen, and it's been a month since she played any tennis at all.
Her last event was the Indian Wells Open, which wasn't a very good outing for her. In reality, she hasn't played very well because her most recent win came on January 19th, a long time ago.
This break from tennis might have helped her, but it will complicated as she's playing a good clay player who has tons of experience, especially on clay courts.
Podoroska once reached the Roland Garros semi-final, so she's a great player on clay, having recently won a trophy on the surface as well.
Andreeva and Podoroska played once before, last year in Chiasso. The match was an easy win for the teenager, 6-4, 6-0, but there are a lot of things different now. For one, Andreeva hasn't played in a while,.
Second, the Argentine is playing far better right now than she did last year at that time, so it's going to be a bit closer. Will Podoroska be able to actually win?
| Mirra Andreeva | Nadia Podoroska | |
| 1 | H2H | 0 |
| 39 | Rank | 65 |
| 16 | Age | 27 |
| 6-4 | 2024 W/L | 13-10 |
| 81-22 | Career W/L | 367-220 |
Despite the match likely being closer than last year, I still think that Andreeva will win because she's a tough matchup for Podoroska in general. She hasn't played in a while, but I think the switch to clay will certainly suit her well.
Prediction: Mirra Andreeva to win in three sets.