Seventeen-year-old Mirra Andreeva pulled off a stunning comeback to defeat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-4 6-3, securing the second WTA 1000 title of her young career at Indian Wells. This was their third meeting of the season, but the first time the Russian managed to come out on top. With this victory, Andreeva is set to rise to a career-high world No. 6 when the new rankings are published on Monday.
Her triumph makes her the third-youngest champion in tournament history, following Martina Hingis (1998) and Serena Williams (1999). Additionally, since the WTA 1000 format was introduced in 2009, she is now the youngest player to reach multiple and consecutive finals at this level, after becoming the youngest WTA 1000 champion and new Top 10 star in Dubai last month. As the ninth seed at the BNP Paribas Open, Andreeva navigated a tough path to the title, defeating Varvara Gracheva, Clara Tauson, Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina, and Iga Swiatek before overcoming Sabalenka in the final.
Despite dropping the first set and venting her frustration by sending a ball into the crowd—earning a warning from the umpire—Andreeva found her footing in the second set and looked relaxed. However, she later admitted that her composed demeanor was deceiving.
“I didn’t feel relaxed. The whole match I felt super nervous. After the first set, I just realized, that, ‘Oh well, what I’m doing now, it doesn’t work, so I have to change something.’ In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive,” she explained.
Understanding Sabalenka’s immense power, Andreeva took a calculated approach. She had to be mindful of what she was feeding over the net, “I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don’t think anyone can overhit Aryna, she’s super-powerful player. I tried to really create something to make her uncomfortable, and point by point, game by game, I managed to do that.”
Coach Conchite Martinez uses her experience around the tour and players to be a positive influence, but Andreeva drove her too far this morning and joked that the tour veteran eventually called her out on acting like a brat. The accusation was not without cause, “I would actually say that I was a brat, and there were a lot of nerves. When I’m nervous, I tend to close my personality a little bit, so I don’t let anybody in, I don’t really talk much. Conchita tried to create a nice and relaxed atmosphere around us today, but in the morning it was a bit tough for me.”
Their close and caring relationship is one that Sabalenka admires and sees as an example of a positive and healthy team, “I can see she has her family who is helping her with a lot of decisions. She has Conchita, who is a really experienced and very nice person. She doesn’t have the abusive things… it’s nice to see, and I’m happy for her.”
While Sabalenka was disappointed with the loss, she didn’t seem shaken. “I want the rematch already,” she told the media shortly after leaving the court. “It was me against me. I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better.”
The Belarusian acknowledged that the match shifted after a few key mistakes: “At the beginning, everything was going quite straightforward, and then I just made a couple mistakes. She believed in herself and after that, I started playing much worse. I was just trying to find my rhythm back but didn’t work this time.”
This mental internal struggle, managing emotions, was a key part of the defeat: “I was just pissed with myself. I should have thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Both players are headed to Miami for the next WTA 1000 tournament, where Andreeva will try her luck for a Sunshine Double.
Women’s Tennis Blog