Mirra Andreeva and Marta Kostyuk are set to compete in the Madrid Open final. Both players have been surging during the clay season.
Andreeva Reflects on Turning 19
Andreeva recently turned 19. She expressed mixed emotions about the milestone. “I’m very excited for tomorrow,” she said the day before her birthday, “but at the same time I caught myself being a little bit sad. Because I don’t want to be old, and I don’t want to grow up. I want to just stay 18 and be a kid all the time.”
Andreeva started her pro career at 15. Kostyuk joined the tour at 13 and won two rounds at the Australian Open at 15.
Clay Season Success for Both Players
Andreeva made the semifinals at Roland Garros at 16. At 17, she won back-to-back WTA 1000s and reached No. 5 in the rankings. Kostyuk, now 23, has a career-high ranking of 16 after 10 years on tour.
Since the clay season started, both Andreeva and Kostyuk have been surging at the same time.
Each began the swing by winning a 250 title on dirt—Andreeva in Linz, Kostyuk in Rouen. Andreeva went on to beat Iga Swiatek and make the Stuttgart semis, while Kostyuk upset No. 5 Jessica Pegula in Madrid and has now won 10 matches in a row.
Kostyuk’s Mental Game
Kostyuk credits her recent success to long-term therapy. This therapy is aimed at trying to make her less volatile on court. You can see the improvement in her reactions during matches.
“I’ve always wanted to change my overall perspective on tennis,” she said this week. “Because for me it was always very, very emotional, and I would spend just a lot of energy, and everything would matter so much to me. Whether it was wins or losses, it was, you know, very just difficult to live in this constant emotional bombing from the inside.”
Andreeva also emphasized trying to stay even keel through the ups and downs in her matches. “I was not reacting a lot on the points, or on the games that I was winning,” she said after beating Hailey Baptiste in the semifinals. “I felt like that was helping me to stay calmer, and also kind of saving the energy a little bit…I was just trying to think to not react at anything that was happening.”
Andreeva Favoured in Final
Andreeva and Kostyuk have met once, at the start of the year in Brisbane, and Kostyuk won 7-6 (7), 6-3. Andreeva is the favourite. She’s ranked 15 spots higher—No. 8 to 23. She has had better career results on clay, and is seen as a future Roland Garros champion.
The players will be looking to stay calm and play their best in their first 1000 final of 2026.