Mirra Andreeva did not win the Desert Double. She did not win the Sunshine Double. But she is Queen of the Desert.
The 17 year old Russian won Dubai of the Desert Double and Indian Wells, the desert city of the Sunshine Double, meaning back-to-back WTA 1000 titles.
Her achievement could not necessarily have been predicted by her form in the first tournament of the Desert Double. At the Qatar Open in Doha, Andreeva was seeded 12th. But after defeating qualifier Katie Volynets in a surprising tight first round match, 4-6 7-6(4) 6-4, she went out in the next round to unseeded Rebecca Šramková in another three setter, 6-3 3-6 5-7.
Moving on to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Andreeva was transformed. She cruised through three rounds for the loss of only 10 games in total and landed in a quarter final with World No. 2 Iga Świątek.
Andreeva was not in the least intimidated. It was the same story as the previous rounds, an easy straight sets win. This time, 6-3 6-3, as Świątek struggled with her serve.
With Świątek out, the field opened up further. Coco Gauff had lost early, as had Jasmine Paolini. Defending champion Paolini was disturbed by the rain on Day 3. She and Eva Lys waited out a four hour rain delay, with play suspended on a cliffhanger – match point to Paolini. She eventually came back out to win that one point. But in the next round she went down to Sofia Kenin, losing the second set to love after spraining her ankle.
By the semis, 6th seed Elena Rybakina was the highest seed remaining in the tournament when she faced Andreeva. This time, Andreeva had service problems. Unusually, she served more double faults than aces – eight to three – but survived to win 6-4 4-6 6-3. In the deciding set, she was 1-3 down, then won five straight games.
Clara Tauson of Denmark was Andreeva’s opponent in the final. Now aged 22 and unseeded, Tauson has long showed talent but has struggled with injuries. In Dubai, she showed her best possible form in the third round, bettering the power and aggression of world No. 1 Ayrna Sabalenka for a 6-3 6-2 upset. She led the match from 2-1 in the first set and wound it up in 83 minutes.
The Dane then managed another straight sets win, over Linda Noskova, before taking two hours and 53 minutes to overcome 14th seed Karolína Muchová in their semi, 6-4 6-7(4) 6-3.
The final began with mutual breaks before getting back on serve to 4-4. At 5-4, Andreeva made a series of unforced errors and handed Tauson two break points to level at 5-5. Two holds of serve followed and led to a tiebreak, where it became obvious that Tauson was tiring after her difficult semi-final. A few times in the tiebreak she could be seen touching her gluteal muscle and fell behind 0-5. The players then took turns in hitting out for a 7-1 score.
The second set whizzed by for 6-1 and the trophy to Andreeva.
She made time in her speech after the final to thank herself: “Last, but not least, I would like to thank me… for always believing in me…for never quitting and always dealing with the pressure. Today was not easy but I chose to be there 100% so I thank myself for that.”
Photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf
With the Middle East swing complete, the WTA players headed to the US to attempt the Sunshine Double by winning both Indian Wells and Miami.
For 9th seed Andreeva, Indian Wells meant beating six seeded players to take the title, including three players seeded above her. Of the seeds, she firstly played Tauson again, with a 6-3 6-0 result; moved onto Rybakina again, this time 6-1 6-2; before serving slightly better than Elina Svitolina for a score of 7-5 6-3. Then in her path were the No. 2 player in the world Świątek, followed by the No. 1 player Sabalenka.
Unlike in Dubai, Andreeva needed three sets to subdue Świątek, a two-time champion at Indian Wells. In the cool night air, the teenager took control of the first set tiebreak and an error by Świątek gave it to her. Świątek reacted by racing away with the second set before Andreeva steadied in the third, 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3. Before the end of the 137 minute match, the players donned extra clothing to combat the temperature which had plummeted to 50°F (10°C).
To join Andreeva in the Indian Wells final, Sabalenka had to overcome Madison Keys in the semi – the player who in January had thwarted her plans to win three consecutive Australian Open crowns. Sabalenka got some measure of revenge in the semi by crushing Keys in 51 minutes. To prevent a double bagel, Keys won the 12th game of the match and jokingly raised her arms to celebrate with the crowd.
Andreeva had only beaten Sabalenka once, almost a year earlier in a close fourth round of Roland Garros, 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4. The next times they played were in January this year. In their semi at the Brisbane International, Andreeva was thrashed 3 & 2, before her similar fate in the fourth round of the Australian Open, 1 & 2.
A similar result looked likely in Indian Wells as Sabalenka powered her way through a 6-2 first set. Perhaps with memories of the thrashings in Brisbane and Melbourne in mind, Andreeva took a break off-court and when she returned, looked as if she’d been crying. With great resolve, she managed to break Sabalenka and progressed to 5-3. She brought up set point with a great backhand winner down the line, but Sabalenka’s serving saved her for 4-5. Andreeva responded with a love game – finished with an emphatic ace – to get the third set she needed.
A determined Andreeva took the decider to 5-3 with Sabalenka serving to stay in the match. But the world’s top player struggled with her footwork and getting into position for shots, to fall behind 15-40. Andreeva seized the first of her match points with an blinding off-forward winner that Sabalenka couldn’t even run for.
Photo: Charles Baus / Cal Sport Media
Never having won a title at Indian Wells, this was the second time in three years that Sabalenka has lost in the final.
She half-jokingly told the crowd, “I have a love-hate relationship with this place…
“I’ll just put this trophy on top of another one and pretend it’s the trophy for winning.”
As she did in Dubai, Andreeva thanked herself: “I would again like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting,” she said.
“I tried to run like a rabbit today. It was really hard to just keep up, so I just tried my best and that’s why I would thank myself, because I think I played a little part [in the win], also.”
The singles event in Miami did not go as well for Andreeva. She lost in the second round to Amanda Anisimova, 6-7(5) 6-2 3-6. Both players served poorly but Andreeva had 16 break points and converted only a quarter of them compared to Anisimova at 4/9. Otherwise, they both won 119 points.
Photo: WTA
Even so, Andreeva won a title in Miami. She took the doubles trophy with partner Diana Shnaider, over Spaniard Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato of Japan, 6-3 6-7(5) [10-2].
Since combining for Silver at the Paris Olympics, the Andreeva/Shnaider pair has played together another six times, winning Brisbane and now Indian Wells.
So, for Mirra Andreeva, it was a successful six weeks pursuing the Double Double of tournaments… Two WTA 1000 singles trophies and one for doubles, and a rankings rise of seven spots to World No. 7.
Title photo of Mirra Andreeva and her Indian Wells trophy by Charles Baus / CSM
Update – 6 June 2026
Mirra Andreeva won her first grand slam title at Roland-Garros, defeating qualifier Maja Chwalinska, 6-3, 6-2 .