Svitolina routs Noskova to set up WTA Finals final

Svitolina crushed Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 6-2 6-1 in just 64 minutes to reach the WTA Finals title match, where she will face Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old who beat her in their opening group match. Andreeva earlier reached the final by beating Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-4.

The semi-finals were played at Indian Wells in California, and BBC Sport described the Ukrainian's display as composed and aggressive from the very first game.

How Svitolina beat Noskova

The world number six neutralised Noskova's powerful serve almost immediately and never let the Czech settle. Noskova was well below her best, serving 11 double faults and making 27 unforced errors, compared with 18 from her opponent.

The win completes a remarkable turnaround. Svitolina lost heavily to Andreeva in her first group match, then won three in a row. That run included a victory over Aryna Sabalenka on Friday that ended a six-match losing streak against the Belarusian.

"After losing the first match I was ready to go home, and now I'm in the final," the 32-year-old said. She added that she would do her homework with her coaches and try to win more games than she managed in the first meeting with Andreeva.

A season of big wins

The numbers behind her year are impressive:

• 11 wins over top-10 opponents in 2026, the most of any player on the WTA Tour;
• a return to the world's top 10 for the first time since October 2021;
• a third appearance in the final of the season-ending event, which she won in 2018.

Svitolina took maternity leave in May 2022 to have her daughter, Skai, and has made a point of playing more aggressive tennis since coming back.

Noskova had made a strong start to the tournament, as we reported when Linda Noskova beat Coco Gauff to become the first player into the semi-finals.

Andreeva makes history

Andreeva, the French Open champion, came from a break down in both sets to beat the home favourite Pegula. At 19, she is the youngest player to reach the WTA Finals title match since Maria Sharapova won it aged 17 in 2004. Her victory also guarantees she will finish the year as world number two.

The Russian is making her debut at the event and has yet to drop a set. She has not lost more than four games in any of her eight sets, and her total of 18 games conceded is the lowest for a finalist since the round-robin format was introduced in 2003.

Under coach Conchita Martinez, Andreeva has turned her serve into a weapon. She won 77% of points behind her first serve and hit 17 winners against Pegula. "I did not feel one bit of pressure today, I don't know why," she told Sky Sports.

Her run included a stunning group-stage win, covered in our report on how Mirra Andreeva thrashed Sabalenka after winning 11 games in a row. Pegula's own path through the group stage is covered in our earlier WTA Finals report.

What to expect in the final

On this week's form, Andreeva has the edge after her dominant run and her group-stage win over Svitolina. But the Ukrainian has shown she can turn matches around, and her experience in big finals could count.

For tennis fans in Thailand, Indian Wells is 15 hours behind Bangkok, so evening matches in California are played during the Bangkok morning. Whoever wins will end the season with one of the biggest titles in women's tennis.

Image: Elina Svitolina in action at the 2014 Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, illustrating the Svitolina WTA Finals story. Photo by Tatiana from Moscow via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.