INDIAN WELLS, United States: Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her second WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells.
Andreeva, who last month become the youngest ever player to win an elite 1000 level crown with her triumph in Dubai, ended a frustrating run against the Belarusian to ensure she will rise to a career-high sixth in the world on Monday.
Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour.
“I would like to thank myself for fighting to the end,” Andreeva said. “I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna she was sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up.”
In a match of swinging shifts of momentum, Andreeva was in full control by the end, giving herself a match point on Sabalenka’s serve with a defensive lob that forced a miss from the number one and clinching victory with a forehand winner.
“The match point I just really tried to just put the return in, it doesn’t matter how,” she told Tennis Channel. “Then I just saw the ball and I decided I might just go for it.
“And I did,” added Andreeva, who sank to her knees in celebration after her winner landed.
Andreeva claimed her first hard court victory over Sabalenka, who had beaten her twice already this year at Brisbane and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka had powered into the final without dropping a set but it was another disappointment for the Belarusian, who was stunned by Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne to see her bid for a third successive Australian Open title denied.
Unlike in Melbourne where she played “like a joke,” Sabalenka said, this time she let her emotions get the best of her.
“Honestly, was me against me,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better ... I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself.
“I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Andreeva had Sabalenka under pressure early, and the youngster’s frustration was evident as she was unable to convert four break points in the third game.
Sabalenka took full advantage, breaking the Russian to love for a 3-1 lead and keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator from there.
Sabalenka backed up her power from the baseline with some confident forays to the net, breaking Andreeva to take the opening set in 37 minutes.
“The anger was just boiling inside of me, because I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t convert,” said Andreeva, who wasted another three break points to open the second set.
She finally gained a foothold with a break for 2-1 — pouncing on a Sabalenka second serve to end a run of 18 missed break point chances against the Belarusian this year.
“I was so desperate to win at least one game on her serve ... every time she served I just tried to win one more game and then one more game,” Andreeva said. “Somehow I kind of crawled and came back and we got into the third set like this.”
Andreeva saved a pair of break points to push her lead to 4-2, her winners tally climbing with her confidence.
After missing one chance to take the set on Sabalenka’s serve, Andreeva sealed the set with her first love service game, complete with a pair of aces to close it.
The Russian maintained her momentum as she broke Sabalenka to love to open the third.
Sabalenka promptly broke back, but that proved just a speedbump as Andreeva broke again for 2-1 and didn’t face another break point.

INDIAN WELLS, California: Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz blew past Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals, keeping his bid for a rare three-peat on course.

The world No. 3 from Spain defied the difficult windy conditions on Stadium Court to deliver a dominant performance against a player who had won their past two encounters — including in the quarterfinals at the Miami Open last year.

Alcaraz took another step in his bid to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight Indian Wells titles.

Alcaraz appeared largely untroubled by the gusty winds that had ball kids scampering after blowing trash and changed the trajectories of some shots.

“Today with the conditions, it was really tough for both,” he said. “I had to survive. I always say in these conditions, you have to survive no matter what. I’m very happy that I was able to play long rallies. I got a good rhythm, even with the conditions.”

Alcaraz didn’t face a break point until the fifth game of the second set, and worked his way out of that jam with an ace on Dimitrov’s third break chance.

Alcaraz polished it off in style, giving himself a match point with his sixth ace of the match and sealing the win with a forehand winner.

He will play Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo for a place in the semifinals. Cerundolo beat world No. 10 Alex de Minaur of Australia 7-5, 6-3.

Britain’s Jack Draper delivered a masterclass to stun 2022 champion Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4.

Draper won seven straight games to seize a 7-5, 4-0 lead over the world number four. Fritz gave him some tense moments with a late break of serve before Draper served it out on his second opportunity.

“It is the best match I have played here so far in the three years I have been here,” Draper said.

Draper next faces Ben Shelton, who became the only American man in the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 victory over compatriot Brandon Nakashima.

The only US woman in the last eight is Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who battled past Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 to book a meeting with resurgent Belinda Bencic, who ousted third-ranked American Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

On the back foot early, Keys failed to convert a set point in the 10th game of the second set and was two points from defeat in the tiebreaker when Vekic took a 5-3 lead.

Keys gutted out the breaker and gave herself some breathing room when she broke the Croatian to open the third.

“At some point, I just felt like it was ‘do or die,’ probably five-all in the second-set tiebreaker,” Keys said.

“I kind of just decided that I was going to go for a little bit more, and (I’m) really happy to be able to get that match and get that win and play another match here.”

Bencic also had to rally to reach her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since becoming a mother last year.

She dominated Gauff to avenge a fourth-round loss to the American at the Australian Open this year.

Bencic, who was unranked when she returned to the tour in October, claimed her ninth career title in Abu Dhabi last month and has risen to 58th in the world.

She said her improving fitness was a factor in her ability to best Gauff in three sets this time, when she couldn’t back in January.

“What changed is that I just kept on working also on the physical side,” Bencic said. “The body is holding up much better, almost like it was before.”

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus got past an early hiccup, dropping her serve in the opening game before rolling to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over British lucky loser Sonay Kartal.

Sabalenka will next face 24th-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who surprised world No. 6 Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-0, 6-4.