Mirra Andreeva triumphantly started at the final tournament WTA

Arina Sobolenko and Mirra Andreeva triumphantly started at the WTA Final Tournament, held in the American Indian Wells. The second racket of the world from Belarus won a difficult victory over Karolina Mukhova, while the Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva confidently beat Elina Svitolina in the second day of competition in the second group. For Arina Sobolenko, this is the sixth Final tournament in a row. The Belarusian athlete, who has not yet won this trophy, met with the debutante of the tournament Karolina Mukhova. The Czech tennis player came to the competition after a great season, in which she won tournaments in Doha and Bad Homburg, and also reached the Wimbledon final. The match was extremely tense and ended with the score 7:6, 7:5. In the first game, Sobolenko recouped, making a reverse break at the score of 5:4 not in his favor, and then confidently held a tiebreak. In the second set, the Belarusian tennis player led 4-2, but Mukhova showed character, again made a break and equalized the score. However, Sobolenko was able to break the opponent's serve again and on her serve brought the match to victory. After the game, Arina Sobolenko highly appreciated the game of the Czech tennis player, noting that she always has to fight hard. She stressed that she tried to stay calm and focused on each draw, as Mukhova is able to recoup at any moment. Sobolenko also expressed satisfaction with the level of her game and stressed the importance of the first victory in the tournament.

In another match of the group, a young Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva met with an experienced Elina Svitolina, who won the WTA Final tournament in 2018. The match ended with a crushing victory for 19-year-old Andreeva with a score of 6:4, 6:0. To win in the first set, the Russian enough one break, and in the second game she completely dominated the court, winning all six games. Elina Svitolina was unable to impose a fight and did not realize any of the six earned break points. After the match, Mirra Andreeva said that she was setting herself up for revenge for the defeat by Svitolina at the Australian Open earlier this year. She admitted that she tried not to remember last year's meeting on the same courts in Indian Wells, where she won. The Russian athlete noted the high level of the opponent and expressed joy that she was able to successfully pass this difficult match. On the court, Andreeva shared her emotions, admitting that before the start she was very nervous and felt constrained, but was able to cope with the excitement and bring the match to the winning end.

The match against Svitolina brought Mirra Andreeva a number of historical achievements. She became the first tennis player born after 2005 to win the WTA Finals. In addition, the 19-year-old Russian became the youngest athlete since 2009, managed to win a set with a score of 6: 0 in the final tournament of the season. Earlier, such an achievement was submitted only to the Dane Caroline Wozniacka in the match against Vera Zvonareva. Mirra Andreeva also made history as the seventh tennis player-teenager to win a match at the WTA Finals since the introduction of the circular format in 2003, joining the list of such athletes as Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovich, Agnieszka Radvanskaya, Karolina Wozniacka and Corey Gauff. It is worth noting that after the match Elina Svitolina refused to shake hands with Mirra Andreeva.

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Meanwhile, Arina Sobolenko is already preparing for the next fight, in which she will meet with Russian Mirra Andreeva. Tennis players have not played each other for more than a year: their last meeting took place in the final of the tournament in Indian Wells, where Andreeva won the tournament for the first time in the WTA-1000 category. Arina Sobolenko warmly recalled that final, noting the stunning level of tennis, which showed her future rival, and expressed impatience in anticipation of the new match, stressing that she was determined to take revenge.