Mirra Andreeva dominated world number two Aryna Sabalenka on her way to the WTA Finals semi-finals, reeling off 11 consecutive games in a clinical display. The 19-year-old French Open champion initially trailed 4-1 in the opening set before mounting a remarkable turnaround against the four-time major winner to claim a 6-4, 6-0 victory. Mirra Andreeva beat Aryna Sabalenka in the 2025 Indian Wells final. From having a double-break lead, Sabalenka only won a further 10 points in the match as Andreeva dominated. Where she won the WTA Tour title earlier this year, the Belarusian hit 23 unforced errors and failed to produce a single ace at Indian Wells. But this was a much quicker unravelling than those matches, sabalenka lost deciding sets at the French Open and Berlin Open by a 6-0 scoreline this year. Elina Svitolina won the season-ending WTA Finals in 2019.
Reflecting on the match, Andreeva remained modest despite her impressive form. “I will be honest, I feel like Aryna did not have the best day,” she told Sky Sports. “I feel like I cannot really take all the credit today—I feel like that is not very fair in some ways. I’m just happy. I had a goal in front of me to commit no matter what and control the things I can control.”
Andreeva utilized high, loopy shots to disrupt Sabalenka’s rhythm, pairing this with 16 winners and showing exceptional baseline precision. Hitting 16 winners to only six unforced errors and creating brilliant angles from the baseline, she used loopy high balls to initially wrong-foot Sabalenka and then showcased her easy power.
The young Russian faced only one real challenge when she trailed 15-30 while serving for the first set, responding coolly with three consecutive aces to cement her lead. However, Andreeva calmly hit three aces in a row to take the lead and never looked back.
The defeat leaves Sabalenka in a crucial position; her final group stage match against Elina Svitolina will now determine who joins Andreeva in the last four. As poor as Sabalenka was, Andreeva produced a mature, intelligent performance to shut her out of the match.
Earlier in the day, Elina Svitolina revitalized her campaign with a gritty comeback victory against Karolina Muchova. After a disappointing opening loss to Andreeva, the 32-year-old Ukrainian faced a difficult start, losing the first set and requiring a medical timeout for a right hip injury. Showing resolve, Svitolina saved a key break point early in the second set before grinding down her opponent to secure a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win. However, the sixth seed saved it and then gradually wore down Wimbledon runner-up Muchova to win 3-6 6-2 6-2. With the 32-year-old tipping her head back and roaring in celebration after securing the win, svitolina made no mistake.
Svitolina attributed her success to finding a way to channel her frustration. “I was really angry at myself after the first match and the first set,” she explained. “Sometimes it happens in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. I tried to direct my anger towards the ball and I found my game in the end.” Muchova struggled with consistency throughout the encounter, committing 39 unforced errors, mostly off her forehand side.
In other tennis news at the Stockholm Open, British player Cameron Norrie suffered a 7-5, 6-3 defeat against world number 10 Taylor Fritz.
Meanwhile, Holger Rune advanced to the quarter-finals after a three-set victory over Miomir Kecmanovic, winning 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. This marks a positive return for the Dane, who only rejoined the ATP Tour in October following a grueling year-long recovery from a ruptured Achilles injury sustained at this same venue. But beat Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6 6-1 6-4 to advance, rune only made his return to the ATP Tour in October after a gruelling 12 months recovering from the injury.
