The favourites held firm again in the desert. On the second day of the WTA Finals at Indian Wells, Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova 7-6 (2), 7-5, and Mirra Andreeva then took apart Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0. Every higher seed has now won her opening round-robin match, something that has happened only four times since 2003.
Muchova arrived with two proud numbers: a 3-2 head-to-head lead over the world number two and a perfect tiebreak record this year. Both were gone after 1 hour and 53 minutes. The Czech broke first twice in the opening set, but Sabalenka answered straight back on each occasion, and two loose forehands in the breaker settled it. In the second set Sabalenka was broken when she first served for the match at 5-4, then broke again and closed it out at the second attempt.
Sabalenka has now opened the event with a victory five years running. Her tally of 13 wins there equals Mary Pierce’s, a record among players still waiting for the title. Whenever she has claimed the opening set at this tournament, she has gone on to win, 11 times out of 11.
Andreeva, 19, made her singles debut at the tournament look easy. A single break, gifted by a Svitolina double fault, decided the first set, after which the teenager reeled off the last seven games in a 70-minute win. Svitolina never managed to break her; Andreeva fended off six chances in total, four of them while serving out the match. More than twelve years separated the two players.
Sabalenka and Andreeva are still due to face each other in the group stage. Their record stands at 4-2 in Sabalenka’s favour, yet it was Andreeva who won their last duel, on this very court in the Indian Wells final of March 2025.
