Mirra Andreeva booked her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals on Wednesday with a brilliant 6-4 6-0 success over Aryna Sabalenka, whose hopes of advancing are in the balance.

Having also beaten Elina Svitolina by the same scoreline in her opening match, Andreeva is guaranteed to top Group 2 regardless of her result against Karolina Muchova on Friday.

Andreeva did not get off to a serene start, though, as Sabalenka got an early break and stormed into a 4-1 lead in the opening set – helped by the Russian double-faulting while facing break point in game four.

Andreeva reacted angrily to that mistake, but it seemed to awaken something inside her as she won the next 12 points in a row to level the set at 4-4.

That was part of an incredible 11-game winning streak that carried Andreeva over the line, as she only gave up two points on serve in the second set.

Asked to rate her performance afterwards, Andreeva said: "I would give myself a good eight.

"To earn a 10, you have to play the best match of your life. I feel like it was good, solid, but not great enough for a 10.

"I was angry. I was not very happy with how things went [at the start]. Obviously, she played well, she hit a lot of winners. I was not happy with how I lost my serve with the double fault on break point. I was just feeling that anger building up inside of me.

"But it was a good thing that I was serving, because I was able to turn that anger into trying to serve faster. To let it out through serving. And then, I felt better and I was able to play better on the return and, just like that, things went my way."

Smiling her way into the semis  #FAGEWTAFinals | #TheUltimateStage https://t.co/qhOFtfQSZA

— wta (@WTA) November 11, 2026

Sabalenka's meeting with Elina Svitolina will now be a straight shoot-out for second place in Group 2, after the Ukrainian beat Muchova 3-6 6-2 6-2, aided by 39 unforced errors from her opponent.

Dominant Andreeva makes bagel history

Andreeva's maiden appearance at the WTA Finals has been nothing short of remarkable – she is the first player in the history of the tournament to win a set 6-0 in each of her first two matches. 

Additionally, the 19-year-old is the third-youngest player to win her first two group matches since the round-robin stage was introduced in 2003.

Only Maria Sharapova, as a 17-year-old in 2004, and Caroline Wozniacki, at 18 years old in 2009, have achieved that feat at a younger age.

Andreeva – who is also the youngest player to reach the semi-finals of the tournament since Wozniacki 17 years ago – only needed 62 minutes to bring up her victory.

That represents Sabalenka's most resounding defeat, in terms of total match time, since she was beaten in 61 minutes by Marketa Vondrousova in 2018, also at Indian Wells.