Mar 16, 2025, 04:45 PM ET
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Russian teen Mirra Andreeva got here again to overcome No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 within the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday to make the 17-year-old the event’s youngest champion since Serena Williams in 1999.
The Eleventh-ranked Andreeva progressed to 19-3 this season — probably the most wins via a lady on excursion — and picked up her 2d Masters 1000 name of 2025. The opposite got here at Dubai in February, which earned her a top-10 rating for the primary time. Andreeva will go back to that higher tier in Monday’s WTA ratings.
Revisiting a theme from her Dubai victory speech that referred to one thing rapper Snoop Dogg mentioned when he gained a celebrity at the Hollywood Stroll of Reputation, Andreeva instructed Sunday’s crowd: “I’d once more love to thank myself for preventing till the tip and for at all times believing in me and for by no means quitting.”
“I attempted to run like a rabbit as of late,” Andreeva persisted, praising the way in which Sabalenka hit fast pictures. “It was once actually laborious to only stay up, so I simply attempted my absolute best and that is the reason why I’d thank myself as a result of I feel I performed a bit section [in the win], additionally.”
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When she dropped the primary set in opposition to three-time Grand Slam name winner Sabalenka, Andreeva put her frame into the windup after grabbing a ball and angrily smacked it towards the stands.
Andreeva — dressed in coaching tape on her proper shoulder — performed significantly better in the second one set, in particular on serve, whilst compiling a 17-7 edge in winners. Quickly sufficient, that set belonged to her when she hit an ace to carry at love for the primary time all day.
Within the 3rd set, {the teenager} began in the easiest way conceivable, breaking the big-serving Sabalenka at love. Andreeva took a 1-0 lead within the 3rd with a too-strong passing shot that Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, may just slightly get her racket on.
Andreeva ended the fit with one final forehand winner, then dropped to her knees and coated her face with each fingers.
This was once her 5th consecutive victory over a top-10 opponent, and Andreeva is 9-5 in opposition to avid gamers ranked that top because the get started of 2024. That incorporates two victories each and every over Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the five-time primary champion who misplaced to Andreeva within the semifinals at Indian Wells.
“Congrats on an improbable run,” Sabalenka mentioned all over the trophy rite. “Nice event. Nice tennis.”
Andreeva is the primary participant beneath age 18 to overcome the ladies ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the similar WTA event since Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis on the 1999 US Open.
Teen Mirra Andreeva crumpled to the bottom in party after defeating Aryna Sabalenka within the Indian Wells ultimate Sunday. AP Picture/Mark J. Terrill
She could also be the youngest to win a WTA trophy via defeating the girl ranked No. 1 in a last since Maria Sharapova beat Davenport in Tokyo in 2005.
Later on, Andreeva joked about her prematch habits together with her trainer, 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.
“I do know I used to be, as you favor to mention, a bit brat, a bit bit, within the morning,” Andreeva mentioned. “That is as a result of I used to be tremendous worried. I am sorry for that.”
Sabalenka additionally misplaced the 2023 ultimate within the California desolate tract and made mild of that Sunday when she was once passed her glass {hardware} for being the runner-up — a equivalent however a lot smaller model of what the champion receives.
“I’ve a love-hate dating with this position,” Sabalenka mentioned. “I’m going to simply put this trophy on peak of some other one and fake it is the trophy for successful.”
The Related Press contributed to this file.
