Sport Desk
DUBAI: Seventeen-year-old Mirra Andreeva made history on the hallowed hard centre court at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday, beating World No7 Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to become the youngest player to reach a WTA 1000 final.
Having defeated 2022 Dubai finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the second round and World No2 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals this week, Andreeva also becomes the youngest player to beat three Grand Slam champions in a single tournament since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
Andreeva had trailed 3-1 in the third set before winning the last five games to reach only her third tour-level final. She won the WTA 250 Iasi Open last July in Romania, before losing the WTA 500 final in Ningbo, China, three months later. In Dubai on Saturday night, she will face Denmark’s Clara Tauson, who will also be appearing in her first WTA 1000 final. Something has got to give.
“Honestly, it’s crazy because at first I was not very positive before coming to Dubai,” said Andreeva, who becomes only the third teenager to reach a WTA 1000 final since the format’s inception in 2009. “I was like: ‘Okay, well, I’m just going to play’. As always, when you don’t think about how you’re going to play, you just play your best tennis and in the end it’s one of your best tournaments. I’m just really happy with the way I played and really happy to be playing my first finals.”
The first set featured few extended rallies, but Andreeva held her own against the 2022 Wimbledon champion, breaking her opponent’s serve for 3-2 before immediately completing an unwanted trio of double faults to surrender her advantage. She broke again to reestablish the lead for 4-3 and this time held serve to close out the set.
rafiq@biztoday.news
