Andreeva seeks first win over Alexandrova in Beijing quarterfinal

No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva will take on No. 19 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing after both players scored comfortable straight-set victories Tuesday.

Andreeva was the first to take to Centre Court in Beijing against unseeded Daria Snigur, who was playing her first round-of-16 match at a WTA 1000 event. Andreeva dropped serve only once in the 1-hour, 3-minute contest while breaking her opponent five times in her 6-2, 6-2 win.

Andreeva hit 18 winners on the day against just 15 unforced errors, while Snigur had 32 unforced errors to 17 winners.

The 19-year-old is through to the quarterfinals in Beijing for the second time in her career. She lost to Zheng Qinwen in her only other quarterfinal here in 2024. She also advances to the last eight for the 11th time on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercdes-Benz this year.

It also marked Andreeva's 48th win of the season on tour, her most in any season so far. She trails only Jessica Pegula (50) and Elena Rybakina (49) in match wins this year.

Andreeva happy with performance but heads to practice later

"I think today I was serving well," Andreeva said after the win. "I also think that I was defending well also because she's a very aggressive player. I thought being a good defender today would be good and useful. I think I did these two things the best today."

While Andreeva, who hit six aces in the match, was happy with her performance, she was back on the practice courts after the match - something which she said was her team's decision.

"Just so you know, it was not my idea. It was not up to me (smiling)," she told the media. "It's the second day in a row the team kind of caught me off guard. Conchita (her coach) told me, We have practice court eight. I'm like, Yeah, great, exciting. We just did a lot of returns because I'm going to play against the big servers, big hitters. We just did a lot of returns. I did a lot of just basic stuff to kind of clean and feel good after the match, clean my shots."

Alexandrova becomes oldest first-time quarterfinalist in Beijing

Right after Andreeva made it into the last eight, No. 19 seed Alexandrova and No. 5 seed Linda Noskova, who reached the final here last year, followed on Centre Court. Alexandrova was equally dominant, winning 6-2, 6-2 without dropping serve in the 1-hour, 6-minute contest.

Alexandrova is through to the last eight in Beijing for the first time in her career. At 31, she becomes the oldest player to reach her maiden quarterfinal at the China Open in the tournament's history. She also becomes the third-oldest player to reach the last eight in Beijing, after Serena Williams and Shuai Zhang.

The win puts her into her seventh WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career and the second of the season, after Toronto. It also marks her 22nd career win over a Top 10 player, her third of the season.

Alexandrova leads Andreeva 2-0 in head-to-head

Alexandrova has played Andreeva twice before and come away the winner each time - defeating the French Open champion at Stuttgart in 2025 and Bad Homburg in 2026 - a stat that Andreeva is well aware of.

"Well, one thing I do know for sure, I didn't beat her yet (smiling)," Andreeva said, looking ahead to her next opponent. "I will try my best with Conchita to see how I play against her, what to change, try something new that I can try to bring into the match. For sure it's going to be a great, entertaining match. She's a great player. I don't know. Pretty excited to finally get that first win against her."