World No 3 Mirra Andreeva booked her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals with a stunning 6-4 6-0 win over Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday, while Elina Svitolina battled back to beat Karolina Muchova and keep her hopes alive.
Andreeva, the 19-year-old French Open champion, won her second straight Group 2 match and advanced as group winner after Svitolina earlier defeated Muchova 3-6 6-2 6-2.
The result eliminated Muchova from semi-final contention, while Svitolina will face Sabalenka in Friday’s final group match with the remaining place in the last four at stake.
Sabalenka, the world No 2 and US Open runner-up, made the stronger start and broke Andreeva in the fourth game of a closely fought opening set to move 3-1 ahead.
Andreeva responded immediately, however, winning three consecutive games to draw level at 4-4 before breaking Sabalenka again and serving out the set.
The Russian maintained the momentum in the second set, capitalising on Sabalenka’s errors to break early and race into a 3-0 lead.
Andreeva did not allow Sabalenka another game, sealing a dominant victory on her WTA Finals debut.
Svitolina battles back to beat Muchova and keep WTA Finals title hopes alive
Svitolina staged a remarkable comeback to beat Muchova and remain in the hunt for the WTA Finals title.
The Ukrainian looked to be on her way out of Indian Wells when she was a set down and required an eight-minute medical time-out. But she recovered to win 3-6 6-2 6-2 and stay in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Svitolina, who was demolished 6-4 6-0 by Mirra Andreeva in her opening round-robin match, told Sky Sports: “It was not an easy task to do.
“I was pretty angry at myself, to be fair, after the first match and after the first set also. Things didn’t go my way, so I tried to direct this anger towards the ball and found my game in the end.
“I played good. I think the level was back in the third set. I just tried to give it all in this match because I know I would be eliminated if I lost.
“So I just tried to really release all this energy and find, you know, these openings against Karolina. She’s such a tough opponent.
“It’s the last tournament of the season, so you know, I just have to really put my head down and deal with all the small injuries.
“I mean, it’s normal that everyone is tired. Everyone is struggling with something here and there. I will just try to do my best, have an ice bath and try to heal as much as possible in like 48 hours.”
Britain’s Norrie beaten by Fritz at Stockholm Open
Britain’s Cameron Norrie was knocked out of the Stockholm Open on Wednesday following a straight-sets defeat to Taylor Fritz in the round of 16.
World No 10 Fritz battled to clinch the first set 7-5 and subsequently wrapped up the win with a 6-3 victory in the second set to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
Britain’s Cameron Norrie was knocked out of the Stockholm Open by the USA’s Taylor Fritz
Norrie reached Tuesday’s last-16 clash with a straight-sets win over James Duckworth in the opening round, while No 1 seed Fritz received a bye into the second round.
Fritz started the match strongly with two aces to hold in the opening game, but had his serve broken by Norrie in the third game.
The Briton strengthened his grip as he held his serve, but Fritz replied with a break of his own to take the contest to 5-5.
He piled on the pressure, serving three aces in the following game and broke Norrie’s serve in the 12th game to win the first set.
A tight tussle saw little separate the pair in the second set until Norrie had his serve broken in the eighth game and Fritz subsequently held serve to see out the match.
Stream tennis with no contract on NOW and the Sky Sports App. You can watch the WTA Finals from Indian Wells this week on Sky Sports Tennis.