Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider have made a winning start at the WTA 1000 doubles tournament in Rome.
In the first round, the Russian duo defeated Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and American Desirae Krawczyk with a score of 6:3, 6:7 (4:7), 10:6. The match lasted 1 hour and 37 minutes.
The victory sets up a second-round meeting against the Taiwanese-Chinese pair of Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu.
Andreeva and Schneider previously claimed silver at the Paris Olympics. This season, they advanced to the final of the Madrid WTA 1000, while last season they won tournaments in Brisbane and Miami (also a WTA 1000), reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and qualified for the WTA Finals.
The Rome tournament runs until May 17 and is classified as a WTA 1000 event, second in prestige only to Grand Slams and the WTA Finals.
