Andreeva fails to backup clay and grass court breakout in Cleveland, loses to Stephens

Sloane Stephens easily defeated Mirra Andreeva by 6-3, 6-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals of Cleveland.

Stephens entered the main draw of the WTA 250 Cleveland Open as the 9th seed after some good results in recent weeks.

This week in Cleveland, in the first round, she came back from a set down to defeat Lauren Davis 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. The former US Open champion avenged her loss to her compatriot, who had eliminated her in the first round of the DC Open three weeks ago.

Andreeva, ranked as World No. 67, decided to skip Canada and Cincinnati, and only played at the Lausanne Open on clay. This is her second professional tournament on hardcourt, the previous one being the 2022 Jasmin Open Monastir, where she lost to the sixth seed Anastasia Potapova in the first round.

In her Cleveland debut, Andreeva displayed a strong performance in the first round and defeated German player Tamara Korpatsch 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 to set up a match against Stephens.

Unfortunately for Andreeva, Sloane Stephens was impeccable and didn't concede any breaks, saving all three break opportunities that the Russian had. On the other hand, the former US Open champion converted 4 out of 10 break points in her favor and secured a match that was interrupted by rain.

The match began on Wednesday night at the tournament, but rain prevented it from being completed, so it was suspended with a score of 6-3, 3-0 in favor of Stephens.

When the match resumed on Thursday, Andreeva showed some resistance to extend the match, but the American maintained her lead and emerged victorious with a final score of 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 15 minutes of playing time.

In the second round, she faced the 16-year-old young star Mirra Andreeva. The Russian is just starting her professional career and has already reached the third round at Roland Garros and fourth round at the Madrid Open and Wimbledon.

In the quarterfinals, she will play against the lucky loser Sara Sorribes Tormo, who advanced with victories over Katerina Siniakova (6-3, 4-0, ret.) and the third seed Veronika Kudermetova (6-4, 6-1).