Teenager Andreeva Is Unstoppable

INDIAN WELLS, TUESDAY — Still within the junior age category, 17-year-old tennis player Mirra Andreeva continues to progress in the WTA Tour competition. Since the WTA 1000 Dubai in February, she has remained undefeated to advance to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells.

The quarterfinal ticket was secured after Andreeva defeated the 2022 Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, with a score of 6-1, 6-2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Tuesday night local time or Wednesday (12/3/2025) afternoon Indonesian time.

The match was halted in the first set due to rain, which also delayed several other games. The cold temperatures in the desert area, where the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is located, caused many tennis players to wear long-sleeved shirts during the match.

Through a match that lasted one hour and four minutes, Andreeva secured her second victory in three weeks against Rybakina. She defeated the player known for her powerful serves in the semifinal with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, at the tournament in Dubai.

The results in Dubai demonstrate Andreeva's progress within two years after losing in their first encounter in Beijing 2023, which also lasted three sets. All meetings between the two tennis players took place in WTA 1000 tournaments.

After becoming the youngest champion of a WTA 1000 event by winning the trophy in Dubai, Andreeva has now become the youngest quarterfinalist at the WTA Indian Wells since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova achieved the feat in 2009, also at the age of 17. Following this, Andreeva faces a challenge from Elina Svitolina, a mother of a daughter, who eliminated the fourth seed, Jessica Pegula.

Andreeva allowed Rybakina to win only the first game in the first set, after which she won six consecutive games. She also claimed four consecutive games in the second set after regaining her focus following the loss of her serve in the first game.

In addition to Andreeva's solid form since Dubai, the match result was also influenced by Rybakina's poor form. She entered Indian Wells as the player with the second most aces in 2025 (104 aces) behind Clara Tauson (138 aces). However, against Andreeva, Rybakinan did not make a single ace.

Rybakina actually made so many unforced errors, which is 33, while Andreeva made 19 unforced errors. The number 19 also shows the winners made by Andreeva, while Rybakina only created four winners.

Asked how she managed to win the match so decisively and maintain her form at the top level at the age of 17, Andreeva took a moment to think about her answer. “I knew it was going to be tough. Elena is the champion here (2023) and she plays very comfortably here. I just fought for every point. I think that’s all I did,” said the tennis player who is coached by former Spanish tennis player Conchita Martinez.

If she can win the competition against Svitolina, Andreeva has a chance to meet Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. However, the 2022 and 2024 Indian Wells WTA champion must first beat Zheng Qin Wen who beat Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round. That is Swiatek's chance to avenge her loss to Qin Wen in their last meeting, the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Swiatek's quarterfinal ticket came with an even quicker win than in previous rounds. After making it through the second and third rounds in less than an hour and 10 minutes each, she cruised through the fourth round in just 57 minutes.

Swiatek won the match with a score of 6-1, 6-1 against Karolina Muchova. Swiatek was superior in everything, one of which was shown in the indicator of total points obtained, which was 50 out of 76 points fought, while Muchova only got 26 points. That means, the average points in each game obtained by Muchova were less than two points.

The moment occurred after they practiced together at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden last week. In fact, in that practice, they played at the same level.

“Sometimes, matches can be weird. There are moments when you feel like you’re not playing well, then at other times, the difference in your game with your opponent is bigger. That’s tennis, things like that can happen,” Swiatek said.

Despite winning by a landslide and a large point difference, Swiatek still considered that the challenge against Muchova was not easy. The 2022 and 2024 WTA Indian Wells champion said she was just trying to take advantage of every big opportunity to get points.

"I tried to return serve well and put pressure on my opponent," he said on the official WTA website.

The world number two tennis player did not want to be too quick to be satisfied with her performance. She reflected on the results of the Australian Open Grand Slam. Swiatek won five matches, from the first round to the quarterfinals, losing only 14 games. She made a “bagel” score, namely 6-0, in three matches. However, her solid performance stopped in the semifinals when she lost in three sets to eventual champion Madison Keys.

In the men's singles competition at the ATP Masters 1000 level, Tallon Griekspoor's journey continued to the quarterfinals. A 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over Yosuke Watanuki took Grieskspoor to the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time.

Griekspoor, who will play Holger Rune in the last eight, is the player who defeated top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round. He is the only unseeded player to compete in the quarterfinals.

The other quarter-final in the same half of the draw as Griekspoor sees Arthur Fils face Daniil Medvedev, who is also still in with a chance of winning the title after being beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the 2023 and 2024 finals. (AFP)