Indian Wells: Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka into women’s final
After overcoming defending champion IGA Swiatek in the last four games, rising Russian star Mirra Andreeva became the first 17-year-old to reach the women’s finals in Wells, India since 2001.
She eliminated her own match in the quarterfinals in Dubai in February, after becoming the youngest champion in the WTA 1000 Championships.
Andreeva extended her winning streak to 11 games as she rebounded by losing a one-sided second set to beat the experienced pole 7-6 (7-1) 1-6 6-3.
She will face top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the final after the Belarusian brutal defeat of American Madison Keys at the Australian Open with a 6-0 6-1 victory.
“I feel like I’m dealing with nerves, the stress is good, so I’m just proud of myself,” said the ninth seed Andreeva, who recovered in the final.
“After she killed me in the second set, I was just ‘OK, OK, maybe just trying to fight’. I can’t do anything about it. Her game was great.
“And I just decided to grind and fight for every bit. It doesn’t matter if I put the ball in it. But I had to put it in. So I just tried to do everything and in the end, it wasn’t bad.”
Andreeva is the youngest woman to reach the Indian Wells final since losing to Serena Williams in 2001.
She will face another major test in the world’s number one Sabalenka, which took only 51 minutes to refute the fifth seed key.
It was a repeat of their Australian Open final, with Keys winning hopes of Sabalenka’s third straight title in Melbourne 6-3 2-6 7-5.
“That Australian Open was really heartbreaking for me, and it really took some time to recover after that,” Sabalenka said.
“And if I lose again today, it’s going to be in a strait and I don’t want to think about that. I’m really focused, so I’m really eager to win this victory with Madison.”
