Mirra Andreeva beats Aryna Sabalenka at WTA Finals
Mirra Andreeva won 6-4, 6-0 against Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells.
Mirra Andreeva won 11 games in a row to beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 and reach the WTA Finals semi-finals. BBC Sport reported the result.
Key takeaways
- Mirra Andreeva defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 at the WTA Finals.
- Andreeva won 11 games in a row after trailing 1-4 in the opening set.
- The match lasted 62 minutes and Andreeva won her round-robin group.
- Sabalenka hit 23 unforced errors and produced no aces.
- Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina will play on Friday to decide the other semi-finalist.
Mirra Andreeva won 11 games in a row to thrash world number two Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals. BBC Sport reported that the 19-year-old Russian reached the last four with a 6-4, 6-0 victory in Indian Wells.
Match details
From 4-1 down in the opening set, Andreeva won 20 of the next 23 points. She hit 16 winners and made only six unforced errors. Sabalenka hit 23 unforced errors and failed to produce a single ace.
The only blip for Andreeva came when she found herself 15-30 down as she served for the first set, but she calmly hit three aces in a row to take the lead and never looked back.
Context and competition
The WTA Finals is the season-ending championship of the WTA Tour.
It is the most significant tennis event in the women's annual calendar after the four majors, as it features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams based on their results throughout the season.
The eighth spot is reserved, if needed, for a player or team who won a major in the current year and is ranked from ninth to twentieth. The 2026 WTA Finals is scheduled to run from November 8 to 15, 2026 by the Women's Tennis Association.
It is set to be played in Indian Wells, United States and will be the 55th edition of the singles event and the 50th edition of the doubles competition.
The tournament will be contested by the eight highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams of the 2026 WTA Tour.
Andreeva's performance
Andreeva produced a mature, intelligent performance to shut Sabalenka out of the match. She used loopy high balls to initially wrong-foot Sabalenka and then showcased her easy power, hitting 16 winners to only six unforced errors and creating brilliant angles from the baseline.
Sabalenka had taping on her knee but it did not seem to hinder her. This was a performance similar to some of the collapses she has had this year.
From having a double-break lead, Sabalenka only won a further 10 points in the match as Andreeva dominated.
Sabalenka's season
Sabalenka won the WTA Tour title at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Group standings
The result means the winner of the final group match on Friday between Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina will advance to the semi-finals, while Andreeva goes through as the group winner.
Svitolina lost 6-4 6-0 in her first group match against Andreeva on Monday and made an equally poor start against Karolina Muchova.
It looked as though things were getting worse for Svitolina when she took a medical timeout for a right hip injury after losing the first set, before finding herself an early break point down. However, the sixth seed saved it and then gradually wore down Muchova.
Andreeva's reaction
Andreeva told Sky Sports: "I will be honest, I feel like Aryna did not have the best day. I feel like I cannot really take all the credit today - I feel like that is not very fair in some ways. I'm just happy. I had a goal in front of me to commit no matter what and control the things I can control."
What happens next
Sabalenka plays Elina Svitolina on Friday to decide who joins Andreeva in the semi-finals. BBC Sport did not give a start time.
Match score
Player | Set 1 | Set 2 |
|---|---|---|
Mirra Andreeva | 6 | 6 |
Aryna Sabalenka | 4 | 0 |
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