Russian Mirra Andreeva defeating Iga Swiatek in Indian Wells receives furious message from Poland's Prime Minister

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made a cryptic comment on Mirra Andreeva's win over Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka qualifying for the trophy match of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. He was enraged as Andreeva defeated defending champion Swiatek to advance to the finals of the tournament.

The Ukraine-Russia war has made global headlines, the effects of which have made its way to the world of tennis. Even though no restrictions have been imposed on the players, flags of countries like Russia and Belarus are not shown during match telecasts.

Tusk brought this up as Sabalenka and Andreeva qualified for the finals of the tournament. He stated that he was unhappy with the outcome, reiterating that the incident shouldn't be taken lightly just because it's tennis.

"Russia and Belarus defeated Poland and the US to reach the Indian Wells final. I’m not happy. Guess why. But then it’s just tennis, isn’t it?," wrote Tusk on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

Iga Swiatek's defeat at the tournament was indicative of her deteriorating performance, with no title wins so far this season. She lost to Andreeva recently in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, who later went on to win the tournament. This loss gave Andreeva a stellar 2-1 lead in their head-to-head record against one another.

The Pole praised Andreeva for her performance after the conclusion of their contest.

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Iga Swiatek praised Mirra Andreeva for her performance

Iga Swiatek during the match - Source: Getty

Iga Swiatek spoke to the Polish media outlet Canal Plus Sports about how she felt after the loss and what caused such a performance. While giving these answers, she also complimented her opponent, the 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who defeated her 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 at the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

"Mirra, on the other hand, played very freely, without pressure. You can see she has no big expectations and just swings freely at times...she definitely played better and probably braver in key moments. Of course, I remember a few shots I could have played better, but overall, I think it was a high-level match," she said.

She also added how wind was one of the other reasons that possibly affected her game:

"The wind played a big role—at times, it was hard to get out of difficult situations when she was hitting big with the wind, while I was playing against it and when I had the wind on my side, I wasn’t always able to use it to my advantage—maybe I should have played more aggressively to balance things out." (translated from Polish)

The ninth-seed Andreeva will now take on the top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the BNP Paribas Open.