Unbeaten Andreeva captures WTA Finals crown on debut
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INDIAN WELLS, California, Nov 15 : Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-3 on Sunday to win the WTA Finals, capping an unbeaten run in her singles debut at the season-ending championships in Indian Wells.
Andreeva threw her racket into the air and jumped for joy when Svitolina put an overhead into the net on match point, before hugging coach Conchita Martinez.
The 19-year-old French Open champion won all five of her matches without dropping a set at the event, which brings together the top eight players of the season.
She takes home the maximum prize money of $3.37 million and the Billie Jean King Trophy. King watched the final from the stands on a sunny day in the California desert.
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Andreeva will rise to a career-high world number two in Monday’s rankings.
She also won a custom Mercedes-Benz SL 55 painted in the WTA’s signature purple, though she does not yet have a driver’s licence.
Andreeva was the favourite against Svitolina, the 2018 champion, and had beaten her 6-4 6-0 on Monday in the round-robin stage.
The first set was tight, with long rallies as both players tried to control points by pushing the other from side to side and drawing them in off the baseline.
Andreeva served for the set at 5-4 but struggled, hitting two double faults and a backhand long to let Svitolina back into it.
She stayed composed, though, breaking Svitolina in the next game and then showing great poise to serve out the 55-minute set.
The intensity stayed high in the second set, including a 10-minute seventh game, the longest of the tournament, which featured six deuces. Svitolina won the game when Andreeva sent a backhand wide to cut her opponent’s lead to 4-3.
But frustration began to mount for Svitolina during the subsequent changeover as she gestured to her team and Andreeva rolled on from there, breaking Svitolina for a sixth time to seal the win.
Source: Reuters
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