Mirra Andreeva has done it again as the world No. 11 beat Iga Swiatek for the second time in three weeks to continue her winning streak and reach her first Indian Wells final.
After sealing a 6-3 6-3 victory over the world No. 2 en route to becoming a WTA 1000 champion in Dubai, the 17-year-old also handed the Pole a 7-6 (1) 1-6 6-3 defeat in the Indian Wells semifinal. For Andreeva, it was her 11th consecutive win and she will have a chance to clinch back-to-back WTA 1000 titles when she meets either Aryna Sabalenka or Madison Keys in the final in the desert.
On the other side, Swiatek failed to defend her Indian Wells title. Also, the 23-year-old’s title drought continues as she remains without a triumph since last year’s French Open.
Andreeva showed great mental strength to beat Swiatek in Indian Wells
In the first set, the No. 9 seed failed to serve out for the opener at 5-4 – but didn’t panic – and dominated the tie-break to still clinch the opener.
After losing the first set, the second-seeded Pole upped her level and reduced her mistakes, which led to her easily winning the second set to force a decider.
But then early in the third set, Swiatek hit a double fault on a game point in the opening game and also an unforced error on a break point. After claiming an early third-set break, Andreeva earned another one in the fifth game and went on to open a 4-1 lead.
While the world No. 2 seed managed to get one break back and reduce the deficit to 4-3, the Russian remained calm and served out the eighth game to go 5-3 up before sealing the deal with another break in the following game.
Andreeva is now only the third player to have managed to beat Swiatek in Indian Wells.
