INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva came back to beat No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday to make the 17-year-old the tournament's youngest champion since Serena Williams in 1999.
The 11th-ranked Andreeva improved to 19-3 this season — the most wins by a woman on tour — and collected her second Masters 1000 title of 2025. The other came at Dubai in February, which earned her a top-10 ranking for the first time. Andreeva will return to that upper tier in Monday's WTA rankings.
Revisiting a theme from her Dubai victory speech that referred to something rapper Snoop Dogg said when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Andreeva told Sunday's crowd: “I would again like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting.”
“I tried to run like a rabbit today,” Andreeva continued, praising the way Sabalenka hit speedy shots. “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 (in the win), also.”
In the men’s final later Sunday, the 12th-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark faced 13th-seeded Jack Draper of Britain. Draper upset two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals on Saturday.
When she dropped the first set against three-time Grand Slam title winner Sabalenka, Andreeva put her body into the windup after grabbing a ball, then angrily smacked it toward the stands.
Andreeva — wearing training tape on her right shoulder — played much better in the second set, particularly on serve, while compiling a 17-7 edge in winners. Soon enough, that set belonged to her when she hit an ace to hold at love for the first time all day.
In the third set, the teenager got started in the best way possible, breaking the big-serving Sabalenka at love. Andreeva took a 1-0 lead in the third with a too-strong passing shot that Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, could barely even get her racket on.
Andreeva ended the match with one last forehand winner, then dropped to her knees and covered her face with both hands.
This was her fifth consecutive victory over a top-10 opponent, and Andreeva is now 9-5 against players ranked that high since the start of 2024. That includes two victories each over Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the five-time major champion who lost to Andreeva in the semifinals at Indian Wells.
“Congrats on an incredible run,” Sabalenka said during the trophy ceremony. “Great tournament. Great tennis.”
Andreeva is the first player under age 18 to beat the women ranked No. 1 and No. 2 at the same WTA tournament since Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis at the 1999 U.S. Open.
She is also the youngest to win a WTA trophy by defeating the woman ranked No. 1 in a final since Maria Sharapova beat Davenport at Tokyo in 2005.
Afterward, Andreeva joked about her prematch behavior with her coach, 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.
“I know I was, as you like to say, a little brat, a little bit, in the morning,” Andreeva said. “That’s because I was super nervous. I’m sorry for that.”
Sabalenka also lost the 2023 final in the California desert and made light of that on Sunday when she was handed her glass hardware for being the runner-up — a similar but much smaller version of what the champion receives.
“I have a love-hate relationship with this place," Sabalenka said. “I’ll just put this trophy on top of another one and pretend it’s the trophy for winning.”
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
The Associated Press
