Mirra Andreeva thrashes Sabalenka to reach WTA Finals semis

Mirra Andreeva won 11 games in a row to beat world number two Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-0 and reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals as group winner, BBC Sport reported. The 19-year-old Russian, this year's French Open champion, came back from 4-1 down in the first set.

Sabalenka, a four-time major singles winner from Belarus, won only seven points in the second set as her game fell apart.

How Mirra Andreeva turned the match around

Andreeva used high, looping balls early on to unsettle Sabalenka, then switched to her own easy power once she had the upper hand. She finished with 16 winners and only six unforced errors, finding sharp angles from the baseline.

Her opponent hit 23 unforced errors and did not serve a single ace. Sabalenka played with tape on her knee, although BBC Sport said it did not seem to hold her back. The collapse was compared with her French Open quarter-final this year, when she lost the deciding set 6-0.

What Andreeva said

Speaking to Sky Sports, Andreeva was modest about the win. She said she felt Sabalenka "did not have the best day" and that she could not take all the credit. She added that she was simply happy, and that her goal had been to commit to her plan no matter what and control what she could control.

Group standings and what comes next

The result decides the group. Here is where things stand, based on the BBC report:

• Andreeva advances to the semi-finals as group winner.
• Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina meet on Friday in the final group match, with the winner joining her in the last four.

Svitolina keeps her hopes alive

Earlier in the day, Svitolina came from a set down to beat Wimbledon runner-up Muchova 3-6 6-2 6-2. The Ukrainian sixth seed had lost 6-4 6-0 to Andreeva in her opening match on Monday and started poorly again.

She took a medical timeout for a right hip problem after the first set and then faced an early break point. She saved it and gradually wore Muchova down. The Czech made 39 unforced errors, most of them on the forehand, and served her eighth double fault to hand over a late break in the third set.

Svitolina, 32, who won the WTA Finals in 2019, told Sky Sports she had been "really angry" at herself after her first match and the first set, and that she tried to direct that anger towards the ball.

A season-ending event full of surprises

The tournament has produced several upsets this week. Linda Noskova also made the last four, as we reported in Noskova beats Gauff at the WTA Finals, and our earlier story on Gauff and Pegula at the WTA Finals has more background on the American players.

The WTA Finals is the season-ending championship that brings together the year's top eight singles players, split into two groups, with the top two from each group going through to the semi-finals. Winning a group with a match to spare gives a player extra time to rest before the knockout stage.

For Andreeva, a straight-sets win over the world number two adds to a season in which she has already won a Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. At 19, she is one of the youngest players in the field, and her composure after falling 4-1 behind was one of the stand-out features of the match.

For Sabalenka, Friday's meeting with Svitolina is now a straight shoot-out for a semi-final place. Phuket Times will report the result and the semi-final line-up once they are confirmed. For other big events on the sporting calendar, see our report on Fury v Joshua in Cardiff.

Image: Mirra Andreeva at the 2023 US Open. Photo by Hameltion via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.