French Open champion Mirra Andreeva falls at first hurdle at Bad Homburg

[p]World number five [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andreeva-mirra/lI6fOOat/"]Andreeva[/a], playing her first match on grass in 2026, pulled out of last week's Berlin Open on the surface.[/p][p]The Russian had said that she wanted more time to recover and prepare for Wimbledon after her June victory on the Roland Garros clay.[/p][p]The 19-year-old matched her compatriot early in the opening set before losing seven straight games in hot conditions in central Germany.[/p][embed guid="4a7ace64-c42e-4e6e-aefb-62ed486def4d" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2069739563363217649" social-type="twitter" /][p]Andreeva was down 4-0 and 40-15 in the second set but fought off the break point and won three straight games to elbow her way back into the match.[/p][p]But 31-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Alexandrova[/a], ranked 19th in the world, steadied herself to serve out the set and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/alexandrova-e-dzbgeEFF/andreeva-m-lI6fOOat/?mid=4rRJTvyK"]win the match in one hour and 28 minutes[/a].[/p][p]Alexandrova will face Japan's Naomi Osaka in the quarter-finals.[/p][p]Also on Wednesday, Romanian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruse-elena-gabriela/ra7IoKGO/"]Elena-Gabriela Ruse[/a] defeated Russian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalinskaya-anna/KGdcQnEf/"]Anna Kalinskaya[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/kalinskaya-a-KGdcQnEf/ruse-g-ra7IoKGO/?mid=rqFEF9S6"]7-5, 6-2[/a] while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tauson-clara/2PPTHPya/"]Dane Clara Tauson[/a] beat China's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zheng-qinwen/xCyEhjAS/"]Zheng Qinwen[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/tauson-c-2PPTHPya/zheng-q-xCyEhjAS/?mid=8vtBIkZP"]5-7, 6-4, 6-2[/a].[/p][p]Later on Wednesday, defending Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, a finalist at Bad Homburg in 2025, takes on Emma Navarro.[/p]