Andreeva wins final seven games to beat Svitolina in FAGE WTA Finals singles debut
Mirra Andreeva's FAGE WTA Finals singles debut was a winning one Monday at Indian Wells. The 19-year-old won the final seven games to defeat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in 70 minutes.
Find out where to watch the FAGE WTA Finals at Indian Wells
The victory improved Andreeva to 1-0 in Group 2 play, joining Aryna Sabalenka atop the standings. It also improved her record against Svitolina to 2-1 and avenged her loss at this year's Australian Open.
"Honestly, I feel like I haven't had a lot of Top 10 wins this season. To have [another] one finally, it feels super nice," Andreeva told reporters. "I guess it was good that I didn't think about it, because I feel like the less I think the better it is. But I'm just super happy I was able to get a win against such an experienced player."
One of the match's main storylines was the experience gap between Andreeva, 19, and Svitolina, the 2018 champion. They entered as the players with the largest age gap (12 years, 229 days) to face one another at the year-end championships since Venus Williams and Caroline Garcia in 2017.
In the end, youth prevailed as Andreeva became the fourth higher seed to win in the first four matches of this year's singles event, joining Sabalenka (vs. Karolina Muchova), Linda Noskova (vs. Marta Kostyuk) and Coco Gauff (vs. Jessica Pegula).
Here's more on Andreeva's win by the numbers:
4: It's the fourth time since the format's reintroduction in 2003 that all four higher seeds have won their opening round-robin matches, joining 2009, 2012 and 2024. Potential good news for No. 3 seed Andreeva? In both 2012 (Serena Williams) and 2024 (Gauff), the No. 3 seed went on to win the title.
7: Andreeva held serve throughout a match for the seventh time this season. She saved all six break points she faced against Svitolina, including four in the final game.
51: Only Elena Rybakina (54) has claimed more WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz wins this season than Andreeva (51).
87: Andreeva won 87% of her first-serve points in the opening set, ensuring the break she secured on a Svitolina double fault for 3-2 was all she needed to claim the opener.
603: Andreeva defeated Sabalenka in their most recent meeting 603 days ago in the 2025 Indian Wells final. The title made her the third-youngest champion in tournament history behind Martina Hingis (1998) and Serena Williams (1999).
Sabalenka owns a 4-2 lead in the head-to-head.
After the victory over Svitolina, Andreeva sought extra time on the practice court as she looks to chip away at that deficit.
"It actually was my initiative," Andreeva said. "I think it's the very first time that I asked Conchita (Martinez) to go to the practice courts. I think something's wrong, like I'm aging. I don't know, something is going on. So she was very surprised. She was like, 'Are you kidding?'
"She didn't believe me, because usually that doesn't happen often. But I just wanted to clean my shots. I wanted to serve a little. I just wanted to feel a bit more free on the court, and that was the purpose behind it."
