Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider had been handed two of the toughest first-round draws at the Australian Open. But the two good friends passed their tests within minutes of each other — both coming from a set down to do so — on Monday evening at Melbourne Park.
No. 8 seed Andreeva, fresh off collecting her fifth title on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz in Adelaide last week, won the last seven straight games to defeat Donna Vekic 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in 1 hour and 54 minutes. She was followed by No. 23 seed Shnaider, who withstood a barrage of winners from Barbora Krejcikova and pulled through 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours and 12 minutes as the Czech began to ail physically.
Australian Open: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Andreeva established herself as one of the form players of 2026 after winning Adelaide without dropping a set — something that would be put to the test when she was drawn against former No. 17 and 2024 Wimbledon semifinalist Vekic off the bat. The Croatian’s ranking has fallen to No. 72 following a 2025 slump, but she had already pushed Andreeva all the way in their only previous meeting in Beijing last year, and her ability to go toe-to-toe with the best in the game was evident during a superb first set-and-a-half.
Vekic unleashed with a series of fierce forehands and clawed her way through multiple deuce tussles to take the first set from 3-1 down. But Andreeva kept her composure and began to out-manoeuvre Vekic with sharp angles and confident net finishes. From 2-2 in the second set, the teenager won 10 of the next 11 games, easing to the finishing line as Vekic faded.
Andreeva will take on another former major semifinalist in the second round — Maria Sakkari, whom she has not faced before.
More to come…
