WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Mirra Andreeva rallied from 4-1 down in the opening set to stun Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 and reach her first semifinal at the WTA Finals on Wednesday.
Sabalenka broke for 3-1 and led 4-1 in the first set before Andreeva turned the match around by winning 11 consecutive games to seal her victory in 62 minutes.
"I was angry," Andreeva recalled. "I was not happy with how I lost my serve with the double fault on break point. I was just feeling that anger building up inside of me. But it was a good thing that I was serving, because I was able to turn that anger into trying to serve faster. Then I felt better, and I was able to play better on the return."
Andreeva, who beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in her first round-robin match, became the youngest player to reach the WTA Finals semifinals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009. The win also made her the first player in tournament history to take a 6-0 set in each of her first two WTA Finals matches.
"I would give myself a good eight," Andreeva said. "To earn a 10, you have to play the best match of your life. I feel like it was good, solid, but not great enough for a 10."
Svitolina beat Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and will face Sabalenka on Friday for a semifinal place. Muchova fell to 0-2 and was eliminated as a result of Andreeva's win.
"After that first set, I kind of let her get back into the match," Muchova said. "It was getting tougher and tougher for me, and I lost the rhythm, and she gained it."
In doubles, top-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Brazil's Luisa Stefani beat China's Guo Hanyu and France's Kristina Mladenovic 7-6 (5), 4-6, 10-5 to improve their record to 2-0.
China's Zhang Shuai and Elise Mertens of Belgium lost to Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei and Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 6-3 and were eliminated after their second straight defeat. ■
