Down 4-1 in the opening set, Aryna Sabalenka looked well on her way to avenging her loss to Mirra Andreeva in last year’s Indian Wells final. 45 minutes minutes and a trail of decimation later, Andreeva had notched one of the most authoritative wins of her career.
Andreeva won 31 of 35 points from 4-1 down, and 45 of the last 55 points in total to hand Sabalenka what had to be a demoralizing victory and clinch her spot in the semifinals at this year’s WTA Finals, 6-4, 6-0.
“Oh my God, I’m even happier than I was after my first match. I don’t know, I feel like I can play another two matches. I’m so full of energy. I’m so pumped up. I’m so happy.
She was admittedly tense during the warmups, and started slow, but Andreeva caught fire midway through the opening set and never looked back.
“I’m just so happy that I was able to turn around the anger that I felt since the very warm-up, if I’m honest,” Andreeva said. “So I’m just happy that I was able to turn that anger into a positive anger, and I feel like that helped me to play more aggressively and to go for my shots.”
Down 4-1, Andreeva barely dropped a point in the next seven games as she took the opening set and threatened to break Sabalenka for 3-0.
The four-time major champion saved three consecutive break points but that bit of elevated play turned out to be a minor speed bump for Andreeva, who took the next two points to break and raced to the finish line to finish her win in 62 minutes.
“If you could erase about the first, about, 16 minutes of this match, everything has been perfect,” said Lindsay Davenport, who commentated Wednesday seventh meeting between the two talents on Tennis Channel
“Absolutely incredible tennis. After the 4-1 start she hasn’t done anything wrong,” added Madison Keys, also on the commentary team, as Andreeva steamed through the final 11 games to earn her third career win over Sabalenka.
Andreeva, who defeated Elina Svitolina in her first match, is now into the semifinals on her WTA Finals debut, as the Group 2 champion. She is the first player born after 2005 to win a WTA Finals match, and the fifth teenager to reach the WTA semifinals since the format changed to round robin in 2003.
Svitolina, who defeated Karolina Muchova in Wednesday’s first match, and Sabalenka will meet for the final semifinal spot on Friday in the California desert.
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