INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva got here again to beat 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 improved to 19-3 this season — essentially the most wins by a lady on tour — and picked up her second Masters 1000 title of 2025. The opposite got here at Dubai in February, which earned her a top-10 rating for the primary time. Andreeva will return to that higher tier in Monday’s WTA rankings.
Revisiting a theme from her Dubai victory speech that referred to one thing rapper Snoop Dogg stated when he obtained a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame, Andreeva instructed Sunday’s crowd: “I might once more prefer to thank myself for combating till the top and for all the time believing in me and for by no means quitting.”
“I attempted to run like a rabbit right now,” Andreeva continued, praising the best way Sabalenka hit speedy pictures. “It was actually exhausting to simply sustain, so I simply tried my finest and that is why I might thank myself, as a result of I feel I performed a little bit half [in the win], additionally.”
Editor’s Picks
1 Associated
When she dropped the primary set towards three-time Grand Slam title winner Sabalenka, Andreeva put her physique into the windup after grabbing a ball and angrily smacked it towards the stands.
Andreeva — carrying coaching tape on her proper shoulder — performed a lot better within the second set, significantly on serve, whereas 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 third set, {the teenager} obtained began in one of the best ways potential, breaking the big-serving Sabalenka at love. Andreeva took a 1-0 lead within the third with a too-strong passing shot that Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, may barely even get her racket on.
Andreeva ended the match with one final forehand winner, then dropped to her knees and lined her face with each fingers.
This was her fifth consecutive victory over a top-10 opponent, and Andreeva is now 9-5 towards gamers ranked that top for the reason that begin of 2024. That features two victories every over Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the five-time main champion who misplaced to Andreeva within the semifinals at Indian Wells.
“Congrats on an unimaginable run,” Sabalenka stated through the trophy ceremony. “Nice event. Nice tennis.”
Andreeva is the primary participant below age 18 to beat the ladies ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the identical WTA event since Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis on the 1999 US Open.
She can be the youngest to win a WTA trophy by defeating the lady ranked No. 1 in a ultimate since Maria Sharapova beat Davenport at Tokyo in 2005.
Afterward, Andreeva joked about her prematch habits along with her coach, 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.
“I do know I used to be, as you prefer to say, a little bit brat, a little bit bit, within the morning,” Andreeva stated. “That is as a result of I used to be tremendous nervous. I am sorry for that.”
Sabalenka additionally misplaced the 2023 ultimate within the California desert and made gentle of that Sunday when she was handed her glass {hardware} for being the runner-up — the same however a lot smaller model of what the champion receives.
“I’ve a love-hate relationship with this place,” Sabalenka stated. “I am going to simply put this trophy on high of one other one and faux it is the trophy for profitable.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
