Mirra Andreeva trailed Aryna Sabalenka 4-1 at Indian Wells on Wednesday and did not lose another game. She won 6-4, 6-0 in 62 minutes, taking the last 11 games and 45 of the final 55 points, and closed the first set with three consecutive aces. The 19-year-old is into the semifinals of the WTA Finals as the Group 2 winner, with a round-robin match to spare.
The turn started with a mistake of her own. Andreeva lost her serve with a double fault on break point, and the anger that followed went into her serving. “I was not happy with how I lost my serve with the double fault on break point. I was just feeling that anger building up inside of me,” she said. “But it was a good thing that I was serving, because I kind of was able to turn that anger into trying to serve faster.”
From 4-1 down she won 12 points in a row to level at 4-4, then 20 of the next 23. In the second set she won every point behind her first serve and lost two points on serve in all.
Sabalenka, who beat Karolina Muchova 7-6 (2), 7-5 in her opener, could not account for the collapse. “I don’t even know how many games in a row I lost,” she said. She also said: “Well, the good thing is that I still have a chance to qualify — I’ll need some time to recover after.”
Earlier in the day Elina Svitolina came back from a set down to beat Muchova 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Muchova took the first set with drop shots, forehands and trips to the net. Svitolina hit 17 of her 22 winners over the last two sets and dropped four games across them. It was her 11th match win at the WTA Finals and her first since 2019. The result eliminated Muchova.
What it means. Andreeva is 2-0 and has beaten both players who can still catch her: Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 on Monday and Sabalenka on Wednesday. Sabalenka and Svitolina are 1-1 and play each other on Friday, and the winner finishes second. If that winner and Andreeva both end on two wins, head-to-head decides the order, and Andreeva has already won that meeting. Muchova, at 0-2, can reach one win at most. Andreeva’s last group match, against Muchova, cannot change the top two. The rules are in WTA Finals round-robin tiebreakers explained.
The semifinals. Each group winner plays the runner-up from the other group, so Andreeva meets the second-placed player from Group 1, and the Sabalenka–Svitolina winner meets the Group 1 winner. Sabalenka has won six of her previous seven matches against Svitolina. The final is on Sunday, 15 November. Dates, points and prize money are in the WTA Finals guide.
Group 1 today. Linda Noskova is already through. Coco Gauff plays Marta Kostyuk at 12 p.m. PT on Thursday, followed by Jessica Pegula against Noskova. Pegula goes through with a win over Noskova, or if Kostyuk beats Gauff. Gauff has to beat Kostyuk and needs Noskova to beat Pegula. The detail is in who takes the last Group 1 semifinal place. Kostyuk is in the field as an alternate after Elena Rybakina withdrew with an illness. Every change to the field is on the WTA Finals 2026 withdrawals page, and how the reserves are called up is in WTA Finals alternates explained.
Andreeva’s week. She is the youngest WTA Finals semifinalist since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, and the first player in the tournament’s history to win a 6-0 set in each of her first two WTA Finals matches. “I would give myself a good eight,” Andreeva said. “To earn a 10, you have to play the best match of your life.” The champions she is chasing are in most WTA Finals titles.
