Mirra Andreeva stunned defending champion Iga Swiatek to secure a spot in the BNP Paribas Open final. Fresh off her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai, the 17-year-old sensation battled for 2 hours and 18 minutes to claim a 7-6(1) 1-6 6-3 victory. She now faces world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who powered past Madison Keys to reach the title match.
With Sabalenka holding a dominant head-to-head record, including a crushing win over Andreeva in Melbourne, the teenager will be looking for revenge.
Struggling to understand how she went from dominating the tiebreak against Swiatek to unraveling in the second set, Andreeva was left uncertain about what had happened: “The second set, it was a bit weird, but I can say that I really tried to do something. I just felt like she overplayed me, because she was playing pretty deep with good height over the net. It was really hard to do something with these shots. So I just tried to hang in there.”
As temperatures dropped from chilly to cold over the first two sets, the young Russian took an off-court break and returned in a fresh long-sleeved shirt, ready to regain her rhythm. “I decided to still play the same but maybe go for my shots more, trying to play a little bit more aggressive, and in the end, you know, I got the win, so I feel…
