Players meet for end of year championship
Sabalenka apologizes to Svitolina after outburst
If you like off-court drama, this is the tournament for you.
Coco Gauff expressed but then clarified some reservations about the format, a round-robin leading to knockout play.
Jessica Pegula was caught on a hot mic griping that Mirra Andreeva was a “diva” who “needs to be humbled.”
Pegula apologized, then did not deliver said humbling, losing to Andreeva 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
And now our final pits Andreeva, the latest teen phenom in a sport that seems to produce a new one every few months, against Elina Svitolina . Important note: Svitolina is from Ukraine. Andreeva is from … well, you can probably guess, even if you didn’t read the note below about Andreeva’s compatriot Aryna Sabalenka and her apology to Svitolina .
Who will win this season-closer? Who will apologize to whom? Will Andreeva add to her trophy case after her breakthrough major at Roland Garros earlier this year? Follow along to find out.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the semi-finals went :
The rise of Mirra Andreeva has seemed inevitable ever since she burst on to the tour as a precocious 15-year-old more than three years ago, but this week, six months after her maiden grand slam triumph at Roland Garros, she has taken another massive step forward in her career. The 19-year-old will attempt to close out the most impressive week of her career by winning one of her most significant titles after thoroughly outplaying Jessica Pegula, the fifth seed, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the championship match of the WTA Finals at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
A year ago, Andreeva surprisingly failed to qualify for the WTA Finals , missing out by a paltry six points after bizarrely deciding not to compete in the final tournament week before the event. The world No 3 has been utterly supreme in her long-awaited debut appearance, bulldozing through elite opposition to reach the final without dropping a set. She has conceded just 18 games in four matches this week, including a 6-4, 6-0 demolition of the No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, winning 11 games in succession from 1-4 down.
Andreeva will rise to No 2 in the WTA rankings for the first time in her career on Monday regardless of the outcome here. The world No 1, Elena Rybakina, and Sabalenka, who drops to No 3, will both be defending a large number of points at the Australian Open after Rybakina defeated Sabalenka in this year’s final. This means the No 1 ranking will almost certainly be a realistic target for Andreeva at the start of the 2027 season, particularly if she closes out this imperious week with a title.
The Russian will face Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian dominated the Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova in the second semi-final, rolling to a 6-2, 6-1 win. Svitolina, who also beat Sabalenka this week, will be attempting to win the WTA Finals for a second time after first lifting the trophy in 2018 . This will be a rematch of their encounter earlier this week during the group stage, which Andreeva easily won 6-4, 6-0.
Elsewhere, Sabalenka issued a public apology on Saturday after being accused of making offensive remarks towards Svitolina during Friday’s match. An angry Sabalenka was caught on camera making a comment between points, which some social media users interpreted as an offensive insult against her Ukrainian opponent.
“My comment was not directed at Elina,” Sabalenka said in a social media post.
“I was frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering my mistakes, and I reacted emotionally in the moment. That said, I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologise to anyone I offended. Elina played a great match, and I wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
