Mirra Andreeva was overcome by emotion following a straight-set defeat in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open, the latest in a series of high-stakes setbacks for the Russian teenager.

Andreeva fell 6-3, 7-5 to Marta Kostyuk, suffering her first career loss in three WTA 1000-level finals. She had used her temperament as fuel earlier in the week but was unable to carry it through while favoured against Kostyuk, losing in just under an hour and a half to the Ukrainian for the second time this year.

Once the match ended, Andreeva sat in her courtside chair and buried her face in her hands before addressing the crowd and her team. She thanked them “for always being there for [her] and supporting me at all times, when it’s easy and when it’s hard.”

As tears came, she said, “I’m sorry. I promised myself I’m not gonna cry. I’m sorry,” and placed her runner-up plate in her line of sight between her and her support team in the stands “because it’s easier like this,” she added. “I know it’s sometimes maybe not easy to work with me. But I really appreciate all your support and everything you do for me.”

Speaking to reporters later, Andreeva acknowledged the depth of her disappointment. “every time I lose, every time it’s like the end of the world to me.” She continued, “I don’t know, sometimes I see other players, like, smile right after the defeat, right after the matches they lost,” and added, “To me, I don’t understand how people do it. I wish I could do it.”

She described losing as “very disappointing and very painful to me,” and voiced a hope for emotional progress: “I hope that maybe in the future this can improve and I can maybe, after the match that I lose, I can talk about it right away and not take some time before starting to talk about it.” Despite what she called a “hard day,” Andreeva said she hoped to lift her spirits with a victory in Sunday’s doubles final alongside Diana Shnaider.

Marta Kostyuk defeated No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 to claim her first WTA 1000 title at the Mutua Madrid Open. The one hour and 21-minute victory extended Kostyuk’s clay-court run this spring to 12 consecutive wins, the longest streak of her career.

Marta Kostyuk, Roland Garros dark horse?

Kostyuk entered the clay season having won a WTA 250 in Rouen, France, and she also recorded a win in Billie Jean King Cup play for Ukraine over Magda Linette. Those results preceded her breakthrough at the first WTA 1000 event of the clay-court calendar.

Her win over Andreeva in the final was straight sets but hard-fought, with the second set finishing 7-5. The match marked a significant milestone for Kostyuk, who will rise to a new career-high ranking of No. 15 on Monday, surpassing her previous best of No. 16.

The title in Madrid caps a rapid sequence of form on clay for Kostyuk this spring. Her run through a WTA 250, national team competition and now a WTA 1000 demonstrates a notable and sustained level of play on the surface. The victory in Madrid adds the biggest trophy of her career to date and signals a shift in her ranking and standing as the clay season moves forward.

Two rising figures meet for the Madrid Open title after matching momentum through the clay swing. Mirra Andreeva, who turned 19 earlier this week, and Marta Kostyuk have both been in strong form since the clay season began.

“I’m very excited for tomorrow,” she said the day before her birthday, “but at the same time I caught myself being a little bit sad. Because I don’t want to be old, and I don’t want to grow up. I want to just stay 18 and be a kid all the time.”

Andreeva began her pro career at 15 and looked precocious from the outset. At 16 she reached the semifinals at Roland Garros; at 17 she won back-to-back WTA 1000s and climbed to No. 5 in the rankings. Kostyuk joined the tour at 13 and won two rounds at the Australian Open at 15; now 23, she holds a career-high ranking of 16 after 10 years on tour.

Both players opened the clay swing by capturing a 250 title on dirt: Andreeva in Linz and Kostyuk in Rouen. Andreeva went on to beat Iga Swiatek and reach the Stuttgart semifinals. Kostyuk upset No. 5 Jessica Pegula in Madrid and has compiled a 10-match winning streak heading into the final.

Kostyuk has credited longer-term therapy for helping her temper on court and her recent consistency. “I’ve always wanted to change my overall perspective on tennis,” she said this week. “Because for me it was always very, very emotional, and I would spend just a lot of energy, and everything would matter so much to me. Whether it was wins or losses, it was, you know, very just difficult to live in this constant emotional bombing from the inside.”

Andreeva, who has had her own struggles with volatility, stressed a similar approach after defeating Hailey Baptiste. “I was not reacting a lot on the points, or on the games that I was winning,” she said after beating Hailey Baptiste in the semifinals . “I felt like that was helping me to stay calmer, and also kind of saving the energy a little bit…I was just trying to think to not react at anything that was happening.”

They met once this year in Brisbane, Kostyuk winning 7-6 (7), 6-3. Andreeva arrives as the favorite, ranked 15 spots higher (No. 8 to 23), with stronger clay résumé and status as a projected future Roland Garros contender. The final will test which player can sustain calm and convert the momentum of an impressive clay run into a WTA 1000 title.