TEENAGE talent Mirra Andreeva is through to the 2025 Brisbane International semi-finals after a hard-fought victory over her idol and returning Tunisian, Ons Jabeur. Andreeva never had it easy, but managed to shake off the former world number two 6-4 7-6 on Pat Rafter Arena to reach the final four of the WTA 500 event.

Andreeva had a breakout year in 2024 and looks to be ready for a further rise up the world rankings, admitting post-match that she is a tennis fanatic who watches old YouTube highlights of top players to see what she can take from their game and implement into hers.

“I watch all kinds of tennis to be honest. I sometimes watch Martina Hingis and also Steffi Graf,” Andreeva said. “I mean, they are legends, you know, so I just try to kind of look up to them and see what they do on court, maybe take some stuff with me to kind of try to play not the same way but to take some things that I like from them.”

The eighth seed is no stranger to toppling Jabeur, having achieved the same feat at last year’s Australian Open when she knocked her out in the second round to announce herself to the tennis world.

“Honestly for me it was a really tough match, especially mentally, because it’s always hard to play against a person that you like. We all like Ons,” Andreeva said.

“There is no doubt about that so for me, first of all, it was hard to keep pushing and playing aggressive … because we all know that she’s very good at playing games – drop shots, slices – so my plan was just, you know, to keep playing aggressive, solid. I’m not sure that if this was consistent today but I tried.”

In the straight sets victory over Jabeur yesterday, Andreeva won 72 per cent of her first serve points compared to Jabeur’s 63 per cent, while also breaking four times to three in the match. Her output was great against a quality player, but will need to go to another level again when the young Russian comes up against world number one, Aryna Sabalenka.

The only two seeds left in the draw, the tournament favourite brushed aside Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6-4 to reach the semis off the back of six aces and a dominant 80 per cent success rate off her first serve points. She only broke three times from 10 chances, but generated enough opportunities to get the job done.

In the other two quarter finals, Aussie Kimberly Birrell‘s fairytale run in her home state came to an end when she suffered defeat against Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina. Despite having to save a match point, Kalinina held firm to win 4-6 6-1 7-5. She will now take on talented young Russian Polina Kudermetova who continued her great tournament with a straight sets victory over Ashlyn Krueger, 7-6 6-3.