Indian Wells, March 17 (IANS) Mirra Andreeva captured her second consecutive WTA 1000 title after toppling World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Indian Wells Open.
The 17-year-old Russian become the youngest Indian Wells Open champion since Serena Williams in 1999, and the third youngest in tournament history after Martina Hingis in 1998 and Serena.
Andreeva rallied from a set down to win her 12th straight match, after winning her first WTA 1000 title last month at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Andreeva is the youngest player to notch 12 consecutive WTA 1000 wins since the format’s inception in 2009, WTA reports.
“I would again like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting,” Andreeva said on her on-court speech. “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 is the youngest player to defeat the World No. 1 in a WTA final since Maria Sharapova defeated Lindsay Davenport in Tokyo 2005, and the third player aged 17 or younger in the last 40 years to defeat the World No. 1 and World No. 2 in a single WTA event.
In the semifinals, Andreeva ended two-time champion and No. 2 Iga Swiatek’s title defense, beating her for the second time in as many tournaments.
Indian Wells is Andreeva’s third career title and second of the season. Two of her three titles have now come at the WTA 1000 level and she is set to rise to career high No. 6 on the WTA Rankings on Monday. She leaves Indian Wells as the outright tour leader in wins this season with 19.
–IANS
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