Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva recorded six aces and overcame a first-set deficit to post a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka to win the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday at Indian Wells, Calif.
The ninth-seeded Andreeva is the tournament’s third-youngest champion at 17 years, 301 days. Martina Hingis (17 years, 166 days in 1998) and Serena Williams (17 years, 169 days in 1999) were younger.
The title is the second 1000-level tournament that Andreeva has won this season. She also won at Dubai last month.
Andreeva’s title run includes beating No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek on Poland in the semifinals. She is set to rise to a career-high No. 6 in the WTA rankings on Monday.
Though an atypical teenager, Andreeva provided the type of moment you would expect from a 17-year-old while wrapping up in her on-court remarks.
“I would again like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting,” Andreeva said.
“I tried to run like a rabbit today. It was really hard to just keep up, so I just tried my best and that’s why I would thank myself, because I think I played a little part also.”
Andreeva certainly didn’t wilt when Sabalenka controlled the first set.
She outplayed the Belarusian in the second and then won five of the last seven games in the third set. She smacked a forehand winner to register the epic victory after putting in a lot of miles.
“I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna was sending bullets,” Andreeva said after improving to 19-3 this season.
Sabalenka lost in the Indian Wells final for the second time in three years.
She also knew where to point the blame for disintegrating after the strong first set.
“Honestly, was me against me,” Sabalenka said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better. At the beginning, everything was going quite straightforward, and then I just made a couple mistakes.
“She kind of like believed in herself. After that, I started playing much worse, and I was just trying to find my rhythm back but didn’t work this time.”
Andreeva now heads to Miami in search of completing the coveted Sunshine Double.
Only four different women have accomplished the feat, topped by Steffi Graf doing it twice (1994, 1996). The others to do it are Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Swiatek (2022).
Andreeva is seeded 11th in Miami. Danielle Collins is the defending champion.
–Field Level Media
