Teen sensation Mirra Andreeva and veteran Elina Svitolina reach title match of the WTA Finals

Indian Wells: It’ll be rising teenager Mirra Andreeva against veteran Elina Svitolina in the WTA Finals title match, with Andreeva making her first appearance and Svitolina her third overall after a gap of seven years.

Andreeva is the first teen since 2004 to compete for the title after defeating American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday. The 19-year-old Russian is having quite a year, winning her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and rising to No. 2 in the world.

Svitolina, a 32-year-old Ukrainian, raced past Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in her 65-minute semi. Andreeva has a 2-1 career record against Svitolina.

Andreeva has yet to drop a set at the $10 million, season-ending event. Over four matches, she’s won 48 games and lost 18 – the fewest dropped in making the final since the round-robin format began in 2003.

“Super happy with how I have playing here so far,” she said. “Of course, the job is not done yet.” Andreeva improved to 4-5 against Top 10 players this year, including wins over No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 6 Svitolina and No. 5 Pegula in the Southern California desert. She beat Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in round-robin play earlier in the week.

Svitolina is the oldest player to reach the Finals title match since 37-year-old Venus Williams in 2017. She last made the Finals in 2018 and 2019, winning once and losing once.

“It’s incredible to think it’s been that many years and so many things happen in my life after the pregnancy, injuries and surgery,” said Svitolina, who became a mother four years ago. “I always wanted to be back in top 10 and play great game, and here I am. Very proud of the effort.” Svitolina never let Noskova get going, with the Czech player done in by 27 unforced errors and 11 double faults.

“It was one of those where you feel like you don’t really belong on court, or you feel like you can’t do anything, nothing really works,” Noskova said. “Unlucky that it was in this competition at such a round, but it happens.” Pegula broke Andreeva to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, but dropped five of the final six games to end her fifth consecutive Finals appearance. She lost in the 2023 final and was a losing semifinalist last year.

It was the first career meeting between Andreeva and Pegula, who was caught on a hot mic during a practice session at Indian Wells Tennis Garden referring to the teenager as a “diva” who “needs to be humbled.” “The storyline writes itself,” Pegula said before the match. “I guess we had to play each other.” Pegula said she later apologized to Andreeva.

“I think we’ve all seen that Mirra has a pretty good sense of humor with everything,” Pegula said. “She said she embraces it, so it was kind of funny. I was like maybe I need a little bit more of that in myself on the court. We’re all good.” Pegula was coming off a career-high 16 aces in her final round-robin match. She had none Saturday and committed 31 unforced errors.

Andreeva had six double faults, but hit 58% of her first serves and also converted four of nine break points.

“I think she’s just very smart. Sees the court very well, moves well, anticipates well,” Pegula said. “She has a sneaky good serve. I think that’s something that’s a little underrated in her game.” Andreeva ensured she’ll clinch a career-high ranking with the win, keeping Pegula from doing so.

“It’s not far from being No. 3 in the world,” Andreeva said, “so I don’t know if a lot changes with how I feel inside, but yeah, of course it’s a nice milestone.” Fellow Russian Maria Sharapova was 17 when she reached the championship match of the 2004 Finals and beat Serena Williams in three sets.