Mirra Andreeva holds nerve against Svitolina to win WTA Finals for first time | WTA Finals

Mirra Andreeva had put herself on the brink of securing another effortless, straightforward set in one of the biggest finals of her career when she momentarily balked. Serving for the first set at 5-4, Andreeva nervously opened the game with two dire double faults before spraying two further unforced errors to hand over the break.

There have already been many times in Andreeva’s young career when similar sequences triggered epic, dramatic collapses, so prone the 19-year-old has been to losing her composure when things do not go her way. This time, she betrayed no negative emotions at all. Andreeva immediately retrieved the break and regained her momentum as she marched to a monumental victory, defeating Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3 to win the WTA Finals at Indian Wells for the first time.

This is the perfect end to a year that saw Andreeva win her first grand slam title at Roland Garros and establish herself as one of the leading players of her generation. She will rise to a new high ranking of No 2 and she will sit just 293 points behind Elena Rybakina, who will start her 2027 season by attempting to defend her Australian Open title. She has put herself in the perfect position to attack the No 1 ranking at the start of the year.

Andreeva is also just the third player, after Serena Williams and Iga Swiatek, to win the tournament without dropping a set and she is also the third teenager to win the title on her debut, after Chris Evert and Maria Sharapova. “It feels amazing to be part of this amazing group of people. I’m super privileged to put my name in that group. I’m really thankful to my team for helping me work every day, for pushing me to my limits, for forcing me to do stuff when I don’t want to do anything,” she said.

It was just eight months ago that Andreeva, the defending champion, departed these very courts at Indian Wells tearfully screaming “fuck you all” to the crowd as she suffered a total meltdown after losing in the second round to Katerina Siniakova. Her varied, intelligent game and excellent athleticism has never been an issue; the key to Andreeva’s breakthrough success this year has been her improved composure and emotional control in pressure-filled scenarios where she was previously prone to losing control.

Alongside her trophy and prize money, Andreeva earned a brand new Mercedes car as a result of her victory. Asked by Billie Jean King, who handed over the trophy, whether she can actually drive, Andreeva sheepishly admitted that she still does not have her licence. “This is an amazing motivation for me to get my drivers licence as fast as I can,” she said. “I still want to just try it, even give it a little spin, at least a couple of metres. If not, then, look, I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 people in my team who will drive and I can be a passenger princess for life.”

In a final between the top Russian and Ukrainian tennis players, the trophy ceremony required some thoughtful stage management. As she and all other Ukrainian tennis players have done since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Svitolina opted not to shake hands with Andreeva or take any trophy photos with her. After her runner-up speech, Svitolina opted to depart the stage and sit by tacknowledgmentcourt. However, when Andreeva congratulated Svitolina for her tournament and season, Svitolina did nod in acknowledgement of her words.

This was actually the second time this week that Andreeva and Svitolina found themselves across the net for each other. On Monday, Andreeva opened her tournament by dismantling Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in their opening round robin match, a victory that set the tone for Andreeva’s blistering run through the draw. She closed it with her fifth spectacular performance of a week that has taken her career to new heights.

Elsewhere, the men’s world No 1 Alexander Zverev opened the ATP Finals in Turin with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Rafael Jódar. In the second match of the day, the third seed Ben Shelton continued his good form by defeating his close friend Arthur Fils, the sixth seed in an intense, bruising encounter, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.