Mirra Andreeva reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals at Indian Wells this week at 19, the youngest player to get that far since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009. Two more wins would put her among the teenagers who have won the season-ending championship, a list that has not had a new name since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
The five youngest champions
Ages are as at the end of the tournament.
| Champion | Year and venue | Age | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monica Seles | 1990, New York | 16 years, 11 months | d. Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 |
| 2 | Tracy Austin | 1980, New York | 17 years, 3 months | d. Martina Navratilova 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 |
| 3 | Maria Sharapova | 2004, Los Angeles | 17 years, 6 months | d. Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 |
| 4 | Chris Evert | 1972, Boca Raton | 17 | d. Kerry Melville Reid 7-5, 6-4 |
| 5 | Monica Seles | 1991, New York | 17 years, 11 months | d. Martina Navratilova 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 |
Seles beat Sabatini in the first five-set women’s final since 1901 and became the youngest champion in the event’s history. Austin’s title came at the March 1980 championships in New York, when the event was still played in spring. Sharapova, the first Russian to win it, came back from 0-4 down in the third set against Serena Williams. Evert won the first edition, in 1972, and the year after.
The other champions under 21
- Martina Hingis, 1998, at 18. She beat Lindsay Davenport 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the last women’s final played over five sets. The best-of-five format was dropped after that.
- Steffi Graf, 1987, at 18. She beat Sabatini 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.
- Gabriela Sabatini, 1988, at 18. She beat Pam Shriver 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
- Kim Clijsters, 2002, at 19. She beat Serena Williams 7-5, 6-3 in Los Angeles.
- Serena Williams, 2001, at 20. She won the title in Munich on a walkover over Lindsay Davenport in the final.
- Coco Gauff, 2024, at 20. She beat Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in Riyadh and became the youngest champion since Sharapova, who won in 2004, the year Gauff was born. Gauff is the fourth American to win the event before turning 21, after Evert, Austin and Serena Williams. Her career is in the Coco Gauff profile.
Every champion and the players with the most titles are in most WTA Finals titles.
Youngest finalist and youngest player
The youngest finalist is Andrea Jaeger, who was 15 years, nine months and 25 days old when she lost to Martina Navratilova 6-3, 7-6 (3) in New York in 1981. The youngest player to appear at the event is Jennifer Capriati, who was 14 years and seven months old in 1990. At the other end, Serena Williams was 33 when she won her last title in 2014, which makes her the oldest champion. The WTA limits how many professional events its youngest players can enter each year; the limits by age are in WTA age eligibility rule explained.
Teenage semifinalists since 2003
The WTA Finals has used a round-robin first stage since 2003, with the top two from each group going through to the semifinals under the rules in WTA Finals round-robin tiebreakers explained. Since then four teenagers have reached the last four:
- Maria Sharapova, 2004, 2005 and 2006. She won the title in 2004 and lost the semifinals to Amelie Mauresmo in 2005 and Justine Henin in 2006.
- Caroline Wozniacki, 2009. She retired against Serena Williams at 6-4, 0-1 in Doha.
- Coco Gauff, 2023. She lost to Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-1 in Cancun, a year before winning the title.
- Mirra Andreeva, 2026. She beat Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka by the same score, 6-4, 6-0, and won Group 2 with a match to spare.
Ana Ivanovic, a semifinalist in Madrid in 2007, turned 20 during that year’s event. How players earn their places is in WTA Race to the Finals explained, and the event’s dates, points and prize money are in the WTA Finals guide.
Related records
Several of these champions also reached No. 1 young; the full list is in the WTA world No. 1 list, and the youngest to get there on both tours are in the youngest players to reach world No. 1. How the year-end top ranking is decided is in WTA year-end No. 1 explained. The men’s equivalent of this list, the players who won the season finale on their first attempt, is in ATP Finals debut winners.
Season Snapshot — 12 November 2026
- Mirra Andreeva, 19, is into the 2026 WTA Finals semifinals as the Group 2 winner. The final is on Sunday, 15 November, at Indian Wells.
- She is the first player in the tournament’s history to win a 6-0 set in each of her first two WTA Finals matches.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
