Andreeva eases to 7-5, 6-3 victory to earn world No 2 ranking
Russian dominates tournament without losing a set
Mirra Andreeva stood on the brink of securing another effortless, straightforward set in one of the biggest finals to date when she balked. Serving for the first set at 5-4, Andreeva nervously opened the game with two dire double faults before spraying two further unforced errors to hand over the break.
There have already been many times in Andreeva’s young career when similar sequences triggered epic, dramatic collapses, so prone the 19-year-old has been to losing her composure when things do not go her way. This time, she betrayed no negative emotions at all. Andreeva immediately retrieved the break and regained her momentum as she marched to a monumental victory, defeating Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3 to win the WTA Finals at Indian Wells for the first time.
This is the perfect end to a stellar year that saw Andreeva win her first grand slam title at Roland Garros and establish herself as one of the leading players of her generation. She will rise to a new high ranking of No 2 and she will sit just 293 points behind Elena Rybakina, who will start her 2027 season by attempting to defend her Australian Open title. She has put herself in the perfect position to attack the No 1 ranking at the start of the new year.
It was just eight months ago that Andreeva, the defending champion, departed these very courts at Indian Wells tearfully screaming “fuck you all” to the crowd as she suffered a total meltdown after losing in the second round to Katerina Siniakova. Her varied, intelligent game and excellent athleticism has always been elite; the key to Andreeva’s breakthrough this year has been her improved composure and emotional control in pressure-filled scenarios where she was previously prone to losing her cool.
This was the second time this week that Andreeva and Svitolina found themselves across the net for each other. On Monday, Andreeva opened her tournament by dismantling Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in their opening round robin match. This set the tone for Andreeva’s blistering run through the draw, with the Russian not conceding a set all tournament.
While both form and head-to-head favoured Andreeva, there are numerous examples of players exacting revenge in the final after losing to the same player during the group stages. Svitolina, who blitzed Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in the semi-final, started well enough in what unsurprisingly became an intense, attritional encounter between two of the best defenders on the tour.
They dragged each other into long, bruising exchanges and, on the notoriously slow Indian Wells courts, both players tried to intelligently outmaneuver the opponent. Andreeva consistently imposed herself with her supreme ability to take the ball early and redirect it sweetly off both wings.
This was a reflection of her nous as she used angles and width to open up the court against Svitolina while also flipped so many points with her movement and anticipation. Everything is coming together for Andreeva, who has long been one of the greatest young talents on the tour, and the results are reflected in her growing list of achievements.
Elsewhere, the world No 1 Alexander Zverev opened the ATP Finals in Turin with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Rafael Jódar. Zverev, who won his first two grand slam titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, is attempting to win his third ATP Finals title after winning in 2018 and 2021.
In the second match of the day, the third seed Ben Shelton continued his good form by defeating his close friend Arthur Fils, the sixth seed, in an intense encounter, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
