[Source: Reuters]

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva fought back to overcome world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-4 6-3 in the Indian Wells final on Sunday, winning a second WTA 1000-level event in a row to keep her charmed year on track.

The 17-year-old Andreeva, the youngest women’s champion at the tournament since Serena Williams in 1999, found her form midway through the match and crumpled to the ground in celebration after closing it out with a forehand winner.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva fought back to overcome world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-4 6-3 in the Indian Wells final on Sunday, winning a second WTA 1000-level event in a row to keep her charmed year on track.

The 17-year-old Andreeva, the youngest women’s champion at the tournament since Serena Williams in 1999, found her form midway through the match and crumpled to the ground in celebration after closing it out with a forehand winner.

Top seed Sabalenka pulled herself out of a slump to bring some of her best tennis to the California desert this year and got off to a hot start on Sunday but her form unravelled as the match wore on and she was left to rue missed opportunities.

“I would like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting,” Andreeva said at the trophy ceremony.

“I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna, she’s been sending bullets and it was really hard to just keep up.”

After trading breaks to open the third set, Sabalenka’s errors began to pile up and she fired into the net on break point in the third game to give the ninth seed the advantage.

‘MORE AGGRESSIVE’

“After the first set, I just realised, that, ‘oh, well, what I do now, it doesn’t work, so I have to change something’,” Andreeva told reporters.

“In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive. I didn’t try to over hit her, because I don’t think anyone can over hit Aryna, because she’s super-powerful player.

“I tried to really, I don’t know, create something to make her uncomfortable, and, you know, point-by-point, game-by-game, I managed to do that.”

Gracious in defeat, 2023 runner-up Sabalenka brought her trademark sense of humour to the trophy ceremony, while holding onto the petite consolation prize.

“I kind of have a love-hate relationship with this place. I’ll just put this trophy on top of another one and pretend it’s the trophy for the winning,” said Sabalenka.

“It’s going to be a quite similar size, you know?”

The win on Sunday sees Andreeva continue her meteoric rise, after she partnered with coach Conchita Martinez a year ago, as she recorded her fifth straight win over a top-10 player.

Former world number two Martinez guided Andreeva into the French Open semi-finals last year and helped steer her into the world’s top 10 with her triumph in Dubai last month.

Andreeva, who downed twice champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, heaped praise on her team in her victory speech and later told reporters they were “super protective” of her.

“(Martinez) gives me advice, you know, how to play and also how to maybe not to spend too much time on-site or how not to waste your energy,” she said. “Because I have such a good team around me, they help to protect me.”

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