Andreeva suffers unexpected defeat before Wimbledon: Yastremska steals the show in Bad Homburg

Mirra Andreeva (No. 23) suffered an early exit at the WTA 500 Bad Homburg Open, losing to Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (No. 27) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The 17-year-old teenager was up a set but couldn't maintain her level and ended up conceding in her only grass-court match before Wimbledon.

The Russian had only scheduled Bad Homburg as her preparatory tournament for Wimbledon and will have to start her campaign at SW19 without much experience on the surface. In Andreeva's short career, this was only her second grass-court tournament, following her participation in the 2023 Wimbledon, where she passed through the three qualifying rounds and then reached the fourth round of the main draw, defeating the 10th seed Barbora Krejcikova and the 22nd seed Anastasia Potapova.

Yastremska also came into the match with little grass-court practice, having only played in last week's Berlin Ladies Open, where she was the top seed in the qualifying draw but lost her first match to Zeynep Sonmez, failing to make the main draw.

However, from the first set against Andreeva, both players showed good confidence on the surface. The Russian teenager only dropped four points on her serve throughout the set and secured the only break in the ninth game, taking the first set 6-4.

It seemed like it wouldn't be too complicated a day for Andreeva, a recent French Open semifinalist who appears ready to take a leap forward on the Tour. However, an unfortunate break in the fourth game started to shift momentum towards Yastremska, who even went up 5-2.

Andreeva recovered the break and was 4-5 on serve, but the Ukrainian capitalized on the tense moments to secure a new break to love and close the set 6-4. Both players were effective when they had opportunities, with Andreeva converting her only break chance, while Yastremska took both of hers.

In the third set, Andreeva seemed much closer to victory, with a 64% first-serve percentage, winning 72% of those points, compared to Yastremska's 45% first-serve percentage, winning 69% of those points. But tennis is decided in the crucial moments, and that's where the Ukrainian secured the win.

Yastremska struggled to stay in the set and held her serve until reaching 4-3, saving several break points along the way. Andreeva seemed much stronger on serve, but in the eighth game, she was inconsistent, and Yastremska got the decisive break to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in over two hours.

Andreeva now heads to London to prepare for her Wimbledon participation next week, arriving with only one official match played on grass. Meanwhile, Yastremska awaits the winner between former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber (No. 224) and young Russian Diana Shnaider (No. 49).