Mirra Andreeva is no longer a player who allows herself to be overwhelmed by power. She has learned that while she might not win every point, she also is not going to make it easy for her opponent to do the same. The 17-year-old is playing in 2025 with the poise of a multi-time Grand Slam champion, and that is what she might be on the verge of being.
In the final of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open, she faced WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian had run roughshod over the young Russian in their most recent meetings on hard courts in Brisbane and the Australian Open. Sabalenka's game is tailor-made for hard courts, and Andreeva had not yet consistently shown she knew how to win against such power.
That has now changed. Andreeva understands that she might not have the pure power of Sabalenka, but her shot-making and ability to return are already just as good. She simply needed to learn to trust her skills a bit more.
Mirra Andreeva defeats Aryna Sabalenka to take the title at 2025 Indian Wells
In previous matches in her short career, she might have wilted after losing so decisively in the first set. In the Indian Wells final. Sabalenka took the initial set 6-2 and looked on the cusp of beating Andreeva as she has in Brisbane and Melbourne. Not so fast. Andreeva is like a machine that quickly learns and learns to adapt. She has no fear of the top players anymore as long as she is playing her game.
The Russian changed the match in the third game of the second set when she got a break of Sabalenka and needed to hold to even the match. She did so, though it was never truly easy. She began to outplay Sabalenka in the bigger points of the match.
At the start of the third set, the players traded breaks, but Andreeva took the lead and needed to replicate her second-set performance of holding serve. She appeared to become more focused and less frustrated with herself. She appeared to be closer to 30 years old than 20.
In the end, she took the match 2-6 6-4 6-3 and will move all the way up to No. 6 on the WTA tour. Is she ready to win Grand Slams? Maybe, but she has at least won the first two 1000 events of her career at the beginning of 2025 by taking the Dubai Championships and the BNP Paribas Open. She should not be counted out of any tournament at this point.