Following Azarenka steps: Ninth-seed Mirra Andreeva keeps making history at Indian Wells

World No. 11 Mirra Andreeva continues her winning streak at the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The Russian defeated Elina Svitolina in a commanding 7-5, 6-3 victory to reach the semifinals of the tournament, making history in the process, surpassing a record from two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka in 2009.

Andreeva, of 17 years and 318 days old, is now the youngest player to reach multiple and consecutive WTA-1000 semi-finals, surpassing Azarenka (19y 280d) on the latter, since the format introduction in 2009.

She is also the youngest player to reach the Indian Wells semifinals since her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also in 2009. With the victory, the Russian star, who revealed her favorite player of all time, increased her winning streak to 10 matches.

“Of course, I knew the match was going to be tough,” said Andreeva, per the tournament’s official website. “I watched her play so many times when I was younger so I kind of knew what to expect. I knew that she was going to fight for every ball and I kind of tried to overfight her.”

Victoria Azarenka reached two consecutive WTA 1000 finals in 2009 (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

She not only defied the former Top 10, but also the extreme conditions. “I tried to play my tennis. But it wasn’t easy in these conditions. So I’m just super happy that I managed to win today,” she said.

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She will face Iga Siwatek in the semifinals

Andreeva will now have to face World No. 2 and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek, who is looking for her third title at Indian Wells. Their head-to-head is 1-1, as Andreeva defeated the Polish star in their most recent meeting in Dubai. Both players are in exceptional form.

Mirra, who won the silver medal in the Paris Olympics, is coming from winning the Dubai Open, in which she also defeated Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina. In the final, she beat Clara Tauson 7-6(1), 6-1 in a hard-hitting final and became the youngest player to capture a WTA 1000 title.