INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Mirra Andreeva defeated Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3 to win the WTA Finals on Sunday without dropping a set over five matches at the season-ending championships.
The 19-year-old Russian jumped in the air when Svitolina netted an easy smash on the second match point, culminating a week in which Andreeva clinched a career-high world No. 2 ranking to end the year.
Andreeva became the 11th player to win the Finals without losing a set, joining among others Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams, all of whom did it multiple times.
Andreeva won five of the last six games to close out the nearly two-hour match that featured nine breaks of serve across 21 games at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Both players worked the angles in battling from the baseline in a mix of sun and shadows on the smaller Stadium 2 court.
Svitolina won both of the match’s longest games of six deuces each in the second set. She needed seven break points before Andreeva’s forehand sailed long to tie it 1-1. Then Svitolina survived four break points to hold trailing 4-3 on another forehand error by her opponent.
Svitolina won just two points over the final two games. Her forehand hit the net cord and dropped on her side to set up triple match point for Andreeva. One point later, Svitolina blew an easy smash playing on the sunny side of the court to end it.
Andreeva won $3.37 million and a one-of-a-kind ultraviolet purple Mercedes-Benz. She doesn’t have a driver’s license. Svitolina earned $1.5 million after going 2-1 in the round-robin portion of the eight-day event.
After match point, Andreeva ran to hug coach Conchita Martinez in the stands. Svitolina, a 32-year-old Ukrainian mother, sat down in her chair.
Neither player took part in the traditional post-match handshake nor posed for photos together before the match. Svitolina and others from her country have refused to shake hands with players from Russia and Belarus since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in line with policy set by the Ukrainian Tennis Federation.
Svitolina was back in the Final for the first time since 2019, when she lost to Ash Barty after winning it all in 2018.
Svitolina didn’t mention Andreeva in her post-match comments to the crowd, which included several fans waving Ukrainian flags.
Andreeva congratulated Svitolina for what she called an “amazing” season.
“You’re an amazing mom to come back and do this. It’s super hard,” she said.
Svitolina nodded without expression from her seat.
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Beth Harris, The Associated Press