Over the past 24 months, Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova have crossed paths frequently, meeting six times overall and three times in Brisbane alone. Their latest meeting on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz came Tuesday, when Andreeva saved two match points to defeat Noskova 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 and advance to the Brisbane International quarterfinals.
The win sets up a new matchup for Andreeva, who will face No. 16 seed Marta Kostyuk for the first time. Kostyuk has been clear about her goal of breaking into the Top 10 during the 2026 season, and she supported that ambition by defeating No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-3 — the third Top 3 victory of her career.
Andreeva’s 2-hour, 23-minute victory concluded after 11:30 p.m. local time, nearly nine hours after she first warmed up. Her match was delayed by extended three-set wins from Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula, and once on court, she was under immediate pressure from Noskova.
“All those bullets and rockets that she sent,” the 18-year-old Andreeva said afterward. “I’m going to be honest, I did not expect that she would play this aggressive starting from the very beginning. I’m happy that I maintained the level of my game, and I felt I played even better close to the end of the match.”
Indeed, Andreeva elevated her game at the right moment. She had broken Noskova for 4-3, but immediately handed the advantage back in the next game. A double fault and handful of loose errors meant that she faced double-match point serving down 5-4. But Andreeva snuffed them out with a backhand down the line and an ace, broke Noskova again in the next game with another backhand down the line, then converted her first match point with yet another winner from that wing.
The result was Andreeva’s first Top 20 win since beating Emma Navarro at Wimbledon last July, and the first time she had won from match point down since her defeat of Olga Danilovic in the 2024 Iasi semifinals.
Though No. 26-ranked Kostyuk’s win was an upset on paper, the result was in keeping with her history with Anisimova. Kostyuk now leads the head-to-head 3-1, and Anisimova’s only victory in the series was a narrow one in Doha last year. Kostyuk had seen herself as the underdog, though, citing recent form in her on-court interview.
“I practiced with Amanda a week ago, and she absolutely destroyed me in practice,” Kostyuk said. “And she had an amazing last year, and I didn’t have the best season last year, so I’m very happy to start like this.”
On court, Kostyuk reversed the dynamic of their practice session with 16 winners, including six aces, and by saving five out of the six break points she faced. She attacked the Anisimova second serve relentlessly, allowing the American just 32% of those points, and held firm even after Anisimova pegged her back to 3-3 from 3-1 down in the second set.
