INDIAN WELLS, California (The Thursday Times) — Elina Svitolina will play Mirra Andreeva for the WTA Finals title on Sunday after routing Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in 64 minutes on Saturday, a week after Andreeva beat her in their opening group match.
The Ukrainian, who won the season-ending event in 2018, broke Noskova three times in the first set and raced to a 5-0 lead in the second. The Czech served 11 double faults. It is Svitolina’s third WTA Finals final in three appearances.
“After losing the first match I was ready to go home, and now I’m in the final,” the 32-year-old said. Andreeva beat her 6-4, 6-0 in the group stage, and Svitolina said she would work with her coaches on winning “a bit more games” this time.
Svitolina lost that opening match, then won her next three, including a three-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka on Friday that ended a six-match losing run against the Belarusian. She now has 11 wins over top-10 players this year, more than anyone else on the tour, and is back in the top 10 for the first time since October 2021, having taken maternity leave in 2022.
Andreeva yet to drop a set
Andreeva, the 19-year-old French Open champion, came from a break down in both sets to beat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 in the first semi-final. She has not dropped a set all week and has lost only 18 games in four matches, the fewest by a finalist since the event adopted its round-robin format in 2003.
The Russian is the youngest player to reach the final since Maria Sharapova won the title at 17 in 2004, and she will rise to world No 2 on Monday whatever happens on Sunday. “I did not feel one bit of pressure today, I don’t know why,” she said.
Sabalenka says sorry
Sabalenka apologised on Saturday after a clip of her swearing in Russian during Friday’s defeat by Svitolina spread on social media, with some viewers reading it as an insult aimed at her opponent or at Ukrainians.
“My comment was not directed at Elina,” she wrote, saying she had lost her temper with a small group of spectators who were cheering her mistakes. “I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologise to anyone offended.”
Ukrainian players do not shake hands or pose for pre-match photographs with Russian or Belarusian opponents because of the war, a policy that will apply again when Svitolina meets Andreeva on Sunday.
Earlier this week: Svitolina knocks Sabalenka out of WTA Finals to reach semis, and Andreeva wins 11 straight games to rout Sabalenka.
