Andreeva Frustrates Swiatek

INDIAN WELLS, FRIDAY—A 17-year-old teenager, Mirra Andreeva, has emerged as the best female tennis player in the past month. After winning the WTA 1000 Dubai, she now has the opportunity to claim victory in two consecutive WTA 1000 tournaments by advancing to the final in Indian Wells, United States. In both tournaments, Andreeva defeated Iga Swiatek.

Andreeva eliminated Swiatek in the semifinal held at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, on Friday (14/3/2025) local time or Saturday morning Indonesian time. Both competed under the same external challenges, namely cold temperatures and fairly strong gusts of wind.

The match became a competition between Andreeva, who had won her last ten matches, and Swiatek, who held two titles from Indian Wells. After competing for two hours and 17 minutes, Andreeva emerged victorious with a score of 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-3.

The result made Andreeva the youngest tennis player to reach the WTA Indian Wells final since Kim Clijsters in 2001. She could become the youngest champion of this hard-court tournament since Bianca Andreescu won in 2019. At that time, Andreescu was 18 years old.

To become a champion younger than Andreescu and a two-time consecutive WTA 1000 winner, Andreeva must defeat the world number one player, Aryna Sabalenka, who "crushed" Australian Open Grand Slam champion Madison Keys, 6-0, 6-1. This served as Sabalenka's revenge for her loss to Keys in the Australian Open final.

Andreeva's victory in the semifinals marked her second consecutive win against Swiatek. A month ago, she defeated the world number two player in the quarterfinals of the WTA Dubai. Andreeva proved herself to be the better player after losing in her first encounter with Swiatek during the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati 2024.

Not many tennis players can defeat Swiatek twice in a row, especially when the Polish player has consistently performed at a high level since 2022. Among the top ten ranked players in the world, only Cori Gauff and Elena Rybakina have managed to beat her twice or more consecutively. Gauff secured victories in their last two encounters, namely during the group stage of the WTA Finals Tournament 2024 and the mixed team championship United Cup 2025.

Rybakina has the better stats, having defeated Swiatek three times in a row, which occurred in 2023 in the fourth round of the Australian Open, the semifinals of Indian Wells and the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Rome. However, the victory in Rome came after Swiatek retired in the third set due to injury.

I considered it to be the last tiebreaker of my life, so, I gave it my all.

Now Andreeva came out and frustrated Swiatek. Both players showed their best skills in the first set, making more winners than unforced errors. Andreeva broke Swiatek first in the ninth game to lead 5-4, but Swiatek fought back in the next game.

Going into the tiebreak, Andreeva was so confident that she held Swiatek's points to one. "I thought it was the last tiebreak of my life, so I gave it my all," Andreeva said on the WTA's official website.

After dropping the second set, Andreeva quickly refocused in the decider. She broke Swiatek twice in the first five games, leaving the five-time Grand Slam champion frustrated. Andreeva also won by breaking Swiatek's serve.

The Russian won the match with 32 winners including five aces and 21 unforced errors. All of those statistics were better than Swiatek. Besides the numbers, Andreeva won the big match because she was able to overcome her nerves.

Another challenge she will face comes from Sabalenka who eliminated Andreeva in the fourth round of the Australian Open with a fairly convincing score, 6-1, 6-2. The victory over Keys boosted Sabalenka's spirit who was very disappointed with her defeat in the Australian Open final. After that defeat, Sabalenka was eliminated in the second round of the WTA 1000 Doha and the third round of the WTA 1000 Dubai.

In the men's tennis competition at the ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells, the semifinals, on Sunday morning Indonesian time, brought together Holger Rune against Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz against Jack Draper. Alcaraz is the Indian Wells Masters champion for the last two years with the same opponent, namely Medvedev. (AFP/AP)