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With wins over Marketa Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva entered Saturday’s Dubai final as the youngest player to defeat three major champions at a single event since Maria Sharapova at the 2004 WTA Finals, and the youngest to do so at a WTA 1000 event.
Momentum firmly in pocket, the teen sensation sealed off her biggest career title run by defeating Clara Tauson in Saturday’s Dubai final, 7-6(1), 6-1.
Andreeva is the youngest player to win a WTA 1000 title since the format's introduction in 2009 (17 years and 298 days) and the youngest champion in Dubai's history. She will make her Top 10 debut at No.9 in the WTA rankings on Monday, as the first 17-year-old to be ranked in the Top 10 since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007.
"This is incredible," said Andreeva, who claimed her second career title. "I set a goal for myself to be in the Top-10 by the end of the year, and it's just February and I've already made it. This is something incredible for me, and I'm super happy.
"This is something I dreamt of and now my dream came true. I'm speechless."
Despite the loss it was a successful week for 22-year-old Tauson.
Making her Dubai debut this year, 38th-ranked Tauson had earned multiple Top-20 wins at a tournament for the first time in her career, with wins over World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and World No.17 Karolina Muchova. At 15-4 on the season despite Saturday’s loss, Tauson is already just four wins shy of her career-best total of 19, achieved in 2021.
Tauson entered the final with more than ten hours under her belt this week in Dubai, while Andreeva had logged seven hours and 25 minutes to reach the final. The Dane held the early advantage in the opening set but couldn’t keep up with the intense energy of rising Andreeva, who seemed to improve as the contest became more physical.
Andreeva changed the tone by saving a pair of break points to hold for 2-2, after an early trade of breaks, then broke through in the ninth game of the match with a break for 5-4, but Tauson put up resistance once again, as she rifled a booming forehand to force an Andreeva error, breaking back for 5-all.
Two more service holds took the pair to a tiebreak, and that was Andreeva’s cue to take over proceedings. The 12th seed played a flawless breaker, claiming the first six points in succession before locking up the set on her second set point at the 60 minute mark. Andreeva, now teeming with energy, continued to turn the screws in the second set. She eventually fought through a difficult game to break for 3-1, and frustrated Tauson further by saving a break point with an ace down the T before consolidating for 4-1.
Tauson valiantly tried to fight back, and at times she struck some incredible winners, but a relentless Andreeva gave no quarter. She saved a second break point with a backhand winner, then a third before extending her lead to 4-1.
Another break for 5-1 all but sealed the deal for Andreeva.
She served out the title in the next game, converting her second championship point and capping an awe-inspiring performance with a relatively subdued celebration – the sign of a player who believes that today's triumph was only the beginning.