Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina knocked off Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday, capping an improbable run to Sunday’s WTA Finals championship match in Indian Wells, Calif.
Svitolina will take on Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who improved to 4-0 on the week with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jessica Pegula.
Andreeva, 19, routed Svitolina 6-4, 6-0, to open group play on Monday.
Svitolina then edged Czech Karolina Muchova and stunned second-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semifinals.
After dropping the first game of the match on serve, Svitolina dominated the error-prone Noskova. Noskova served up 11 double faults and made 27 unforced errors, winning only two games on serve in the 65-minute match.
Svitolina won the 2018 WTA Finals in Singapore. After the win over Noskova, she admitted that her approach to Monday’s match was all wrong.
“It’s gonna be another big challenge. I feel that I have to do my homework, to work on a few things here and there. I’m a completely different player from the first match. I was not playing the right way. I will give it the best shot. Just gonna leave everything. (Sunday) it’s the last match of the season, finally. It’s gonna be fun.”
Andreeva has lost just 18 games in her four matches.
Pegula got a break in the third game of the match, but Andreeva got it right back, winning a 14-point fourth game. She broke again with Pegula serving at 3-4, then staved off one break point to capture the first set.
The American took a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Andreeva reeled off four consecutive games to take a 5-3 lead. After Pegula won on serve to get to 5-4, Andreeva held serve to advance to her sixth title match of the year.
“I knew this match had a lot on the line,” said Andreeva. “I’m just happy with how I played today and with how composed I tried to be the whole match and not let her in too much.
“Super happy with today and one last push for (Sunday).”
The match between Andreeva and Svitolina will be the seventh replay of an earlier WTA Finals match since round-robin play returned in 2003. The loser of the round-robin match has won four of the previous six rematches.
Andreeva took a 2-1 series lead over Svitolina with Tuesday’s win, but the Ukrainian defeated Andreeva on the big stage in 2026, knocking her out of the Australian Open in the Round of 16.
–Field Level Media
