INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Mirra Andreeva defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 to reach the title match of the WTA Finals on Saturday, becoming the first teenager to do so since 2004.
The 19-year-old Russian will meet Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in Sunday's final. Svitolina raced past Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in the other semifinal. Andreeva has a 2-1 career record against Svitolina.
Andreeva has yet to drop a set at the $10 million, season-ending
event. She lost just 11 games while going 3-0 in her round-robin matches, the fewest of any player since 2003.
Andreeva improved to 4-5 against Top 10 players this year, including wins over No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 6 Svitolina and No. 5 Pegula in the Southern California desert. She beat Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in round-robin play earlier in the week.
Pegula broke Andreeva to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, but dropped five of the final six games to end her fifth consecutive Finals appearance. She lost in the 2023 final and was a losing semifinalist last year, too.
It was the first career meeting between Andreeva and Pegula, who was caught on a hot mic during a practice session at Indian Wells Tennis Garden referring to the teenager as a “diva” who “needs to be humbled.”
“The storyline writes itself,” Pegula said before the match. “I guess we had to play each other.”
Pegula said she later apologized to Andreeva.
“I think we’ve all seen that Mirra has a pretty good sense of humor with everything,” Pegula said. “She said she embraces it, so it was kind of funny. I was like maybe I need a little bit more of that in myself on the court. We're all good.”
Andreeva, who won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in May, ensured she'll clinch a career-high, year-end No. 2 world ranking with the win, keeping Pegula from doings so.
Fellow Russian Maria Sharapova was 17 when she reached the championship match of the 2004 Finals and beat Serena Williams in three sets.
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