By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, March 16, 2025
In a historic run, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win Indian Wells with her 12th straight WTA 1000 triumph.
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Pushed into the doubles alley chasing an Aryna Sabalenka drive, Mirra Andreeva re imagined the ball as a butterfly flicking a fluttering drop shot winner.
Even when she’s operating in obscure positions, shot subtly is profoundly powerful in Andreeva’s hands.
In a coming-of-age performance, the 17-year-old Andreeva defused world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the BNP Paribas Open final to capture her second consecutive WTA 1000 championship at Indian Wells.
One round after Andreeva dethroned defending champion and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 charging into her maiden Indian Wells final, Andreeva deconstructed Sabalenka with unsettling variation.
The teenager tore through eight of the last nine points, firing a final forehand winner to finish a two hour, four-minute conquest.
"The whole match I felt super nervous. After the first set, I just realized, that, oh, well, what I do now, it doesn't work, so I have to change something," Andreeva told the media in Indian Wells. "Yeah, in the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive. I didn't try to overhit her, because I don't think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she's super-powerful player.
"I tried to really, I don't know, create something to make her uncomfortable, and, you know, point by point, game by game, I managed to do that."
It is the 12th consecutive WTA 1000 championship for Andreeva, who solidified her status as desert queen capturing Dubai and Indian Wells back-to-back.
Afterward, Andreeva thanked her team, including coach and Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, BNP Paribas Open fans and, appropriately, herself for her “little part” in seizing her biggest title.
“It's been amazing—I felt all the support, thank you for coming and supporting it means a lot to the players,” Andreeva told fans. “Thank you [Conchita], I know I was a little brat, as you like to say, in the morning. That’s because I was super nervous. I’m sorry for that, I don’t think I would be here without all of you so thank you for being by my side.
“Thanks to myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting. I tried to run like a rabbit today because Aryna she’s been sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up and I just tried my best. So that’s why I thank myself because I played a little part also.”
It’s a historic run for the creative Russian: Andreeva is the third-youngest woman to win Indian Wells after her tennis hero, Martina Hingis (1998) and legendary Serena Williams (1999). Additionally, Andreeva joins Steffi Graf and Serena as the third player under age 18 to topple the world No. 1 and world No. 2 at the same event.
In short, Andreeva has not only instilled herself as a dangerous Top 10 contender—she’s rattled world order to do it.
When she wasn’t bamboozling the Belarusian with drop shots, she was serving bigger than her size and age suggests. Andreeva hit five more winners—29 to 25—five more aces—6 to 1—and often played sharper, smarter angles than Sabalenka down the stretch.
Blown out by the Belarusia in Brisbane and the Australian Open this year, Andreeva played all-court tennis when she needed to beating the top seed for the first time since her stunning 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 upset on the red clay of Roland Garros last June.
"I was just too pissed with myself, because I think, yeah, it shouldn't be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself,” Sabalenka told the media in Indian Wells. “I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too much, too hard on myself.
“So I wasn't really caring about what she was doing. I knew what she was going to do, and nothing really surprised me. It's more just like about me controlling my anger a little bit better.”
Applying pressure with some fine defensive digs, Andreeva earned four break points in the third game.
An assertive Sabalenka lifted her level and erased each challenge, fending off all four break points for 2-1.
That stand meant a stubborn Sabalenka saved all 15 break points she’d faced against Andreeva this season, including the Belarusian’s Brisbane semifinal sweep and a 62-minute Australian Open fourth-round thrashing in January.
An old tennis adage states the seventh game is crucial—in this set that third game was transformative.
Frustrated by her inability to convert four break points, Andreeva immediately fell into a triple break point hole.
The teenager brain-cramped with a rash drop-shot attempt. Sabalenka ran it down and spun a forehand pass breaking for 3-1.
The US Open champion stamped a strong hold for 4-1. Sabalenka gained a second set point on an Andreeva double fault and broke again to seal a one-set lead.
The top seed won 20 of the last 30 points in the opening set that ended with Andreeva belting a ball into the stands in frustration.
Channeling angst into action, Andreeva flashed a forehand return winner down the line to finally break through for a 2-1 second set lead. It was the first time in six sets this season the teenager broke Sabalenka’s serve.
Before a packed stadium 1 crowd that included legends Rocket Rod Laver and Martina Navratilova, Andreeva carved a clever backhand drop shot winner on the stretch that brought some fans out of their seats and helped her confirm for 3-1.
The two-time AO champion saved a set point with a bold forehand swing volley, eventually holding to force the teenager to serve out the set.
Stepping to the line, Andreeva calmly cracked successive aces serving out the set at love. Andreeva won eight of her last nine service points forcing a third set with a confident close.
The pair traded breaks to start the decider.
Then Andreeva elevated her level to take charge against the world No. 1.
Facing a second break point, Sabalenka’s backhand crashed into the tape and stalled on her side as Andreeva broke for 2-1.
Early in the opening set, Andreeva was sometimes over playing the forehand drop shot. This time, she smacked a forehand winner forging the first hold of the set for 3-1.
One of Andreeva’s most underrated assets is her skill spotting the first serve into all areas and cracking that serve when she needs it. Andreeva banged a 108 mph ace holding for 4-2.
Throughout the match, Sabalenka’s grunts of desire reverberated around stadium 1, while Andreeva was a silent assassin. You could barely her sneakers streak across the court as Andreeva made a terrific defensive dig tossing up a lob that Sabalenka sailed long to face two match points.
When her moment of truth came, Andreeva stepped in and slashed that final forehand winner to seal her status as desert queen.
Consider, Andreeva had no letdown after Dubai transforming Tennis Paradise into a launching pad.
Andreeva defeated three Top 10 Grand Slam champions—Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka—showed greater depth to her game in all three of those duels and raised her record to a Tour-best 19-3 on the season.
It's impressive how fast Andreeva's game has matured since she upset Sabalenka in the Roland Garros quarterfinals last June.
Andreeva, who said she has "no idea" what her favorite surface is, showed more composure—and shot subtlety—disarming the world's top two in succession and says she's not surprised with this breakout season start.
"I would say that for me it doesn't really feel like I have been playing for a long time," Andreeva said. "Maybe it's happening fast, but I like it.
"There is nothing bad that I can say about it. If it's happening fast, I take it, you know. It's not bad to win two tournaments in a row, so I'm really happy about that. If it's happening fast, I have no idea if it is, but I'm okay with it. Yes, I take it."