Mirra Andreeva won 11 games in a row to beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 and secure a place in the WTA Finals semifinals as the winner of Group 2. The 19-year-old Russian recovered from a 4-1 first-set deficit in Wednesday’s match at Indian Wells, then completed the straight-sets win in 62 minutes.

How Andreeva turned the match around

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, moved ahead 4-1 in the opening set. Andreeva responded by taking the next three games to level the score, then closed out the set before carrying her momentum into the second. She did not drop another game, winning 45 of the final 55 points, according to the WTA.

A milestone at Andreeva’s first WTA Finals

The victory made Andreeva the youngest player to reach a WTA Finals semifinal since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009. It also made her the first player in tournament history to record a 6-0 set in each of her first two matches. She had opened the round-robin stage with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Elina Svitolina.

Andreeva entered the season-ending tournament as the No. 3 seed and the reigning French Open champion. The group victory puts her through to the last four on her WTA Finals debut, while Sabalenka’s semifinal hopes remained alive after the loss.

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Sources

Reporting: Women’s Tennis Association; Reuters (republished by KELO-AM); Agence France-Presse.