# Svitolina demolishes Noskova 6-2, 6-1 to reach WTA Finals final against Andreeva Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/tennis/svitolina-demolishes-noskova-6-2-6-1-to-reach-wta-finals-final-against-andreeva Language: en Published: 2026-11-15T03:03:42.901+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-15T03:03:42.948053+00:00 > Elina Svitolina beat Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes in the WTA Finals semi-final at Indian Wells. ## TL;DR - Elina Svitolina beat Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes in the WTA Finals semi-final at Indian Wells. - Svitolina won 12 of the final 14 games after dropping her opening service game. - The win was Svitolina's 11th over a top-10 opponent in 2026, the most on tour this year. - At 32, she is the oldest WTA Finals finalist since Venus Williams in 2017. - She faces Mirra Andreeva in Sunday's final, a rematch of her 6-4, 6-0 group-stage defeat. ## Key points - Elina Svitolina beat Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes in the WTA Finals semi-final at Indian Wells. - Svitolina won 12 of the final 14 games after dropping her opening service game. - The win was Svitolina's 11th over a top-10 opponent in 2026, the most on tour this year. - At 32, she is the oldest WTA Finals finalist since Venus Williams in 2017. - She faces Mirra Andreeva in Sunday's final, a rematch of her 6-4, 6-0 group-stage defeat. Elina Svitolina is one win away from completing one of the great comebacks in WTA Finals history. The 32-year-old Ukrainian dismantled Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-1 in Saturday's semi-final at Indian Wells, needing just 65 minutes to book a place in Sunday's championship match against Mirra Andreeva. It was a performance of startling authority from a player who, five days earlier, had looked finished at this tournament. Svitolina opened her campaign with a heavy 6-4, 6-0 defeat to Andreeva on Monday, a loss so one-sided that few would have tipped her to survive the group stage. Instead, she has won three matches in a row and will contest a third WTA Finals final — seven years after her last one. "She played really well. All the credit to her in that match," Svitolina said of Andreeva after beating Noskova. "Tomorrow I'll have to do some homework and try to execute better, try to find the keys for the match, and hopefully I'll play a better match." ## A nightmare start that lasted exactly one game For a few minutes on Saturday, it looked as though Noskova might spoil the script. The 21-year-old Czech, playing her first WTA Finals semi-final, broke Svitolina's serve in the opening game, threatening to carry the momentum of a breakthrough season — a first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, a WTA 500 crown in Berlin and a career-high 42 wins — into the biggest match of her career. That was as good as it got for Noskova. Svitolina broke straight back and won 12 of the final 14 games, sweeping the first set 6-2 and racing to a 5-0 lead in the second. When Noskova's forehand sailed wide on match point, Svitolina raised her arms and beamed. ![Linda Noskova (right) with Karolina Muchova in doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympics](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794711803466-ig25eh-tennis-inside1-2026-11-15-morning.jpg) ## The numbers behind the rout The statistics told the story of a match that was never really a contest after the opening exchange. Svitolina struck 20 winners against 18 unforced errors, a clean, controlled ratio for a player dictating from the baseline. Noskova, by contrast, could not find the court with her biggest weapon. She landed just 40 percent of her first serves, committed 11 double faults and won only 23 percent of her second-serve points — seven of 30. "It was one of those where you feel like you don't belong on the court," Noskova said afterwards. "Or you feel like you can't do anything. Nothing really works. Unlucky that it was in this competition at such a round, but it happens." ## From rock bottom to the final Svitolina's road to the final has been a story of steady repair. After the opening defeat, she edged Karolina Muchova in three sets, then stunned second seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 — ending a six-match losing run against the Belarusian and knocking the world No. 2 out of the tournament. The win was Svitolina's 11th over a top-10 opponent in 2026, matching her career high from 2017 and leaving her with more top-10 wins than any other player on tour this year. It is a remarkable return for a player who left the tour to give birth to her daughter, Skai, in 2022 and only returned to the top 10 this season for the first time since October 2021. At 32, Svitolina is the oldest player to reach the WTA Finals championship match since Venus Williams in 2017, and only the fourth to do so after turning 32, joining Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. She is the 14th player to reach three or more finals at the event — and of those 14, only she and Gabriela Sabatini never held the No. 1 ranking. ![Mirra Andreeva in doubles action at the Paris 2024 Olympics](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794711818691-jzrv8j-tennis-inside2-2026-11-15-morning.jpg) ## A final seven years in the making Svitolina won this tournament in 2018 and lost the 2019 final to Ashleigh Barty. She has not been back since — until now. Sunday's final, played at noon local time in Indian Wells, gives her the chance to become only the second woman to win the WTA Finals after returning to the tour following the birth of a child. Standing in her way is the teenager who handed her that chastening defeat on Monday. Andreeva, 19, beat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 in the first semi-final on Saturday to extend her unbeaten run at the event to four matches without dropping a set. The French Open champion is the youngest player to reach the WTA Finals title match since Maria Sharapova in 2004, and her win over Pegula guarantees she will finish the year as world No. 2. Andreeva leads the head-to-head 2-1, and the memory of Monday's 6-4, 6-0 rout will be fresh in both minds. But Svitolina has raised her level with every match since, and the round-robin format has handed her something rare in tennis: an immediate chance at revenge in the same tournament. "I don't know. Let the stats speak for it," Svitolina said when asked whether she raises her game on the biggest stages. "I always rate this tournament very highly because you are playing with the best players. It's the highest stakes. And I'm just really happy with the level and really happy that I've been able to come back after a tough opening match." The final is the seventh since round-robin play returned in 2003 to be a rematch of a group-stage meeting. This year's $10 million tournament was moved from Riyadh to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden because of the US-Israeli war with Iran, and its trophy is named after Billie Jean King. On Sunday, either a 19-year-old announces herself as the new force in women's tennis, or a 32-year-old mother completes a comeback nobody saw coming five days ago. Mentions: Elina Svitolina, Linda Noskova, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Aryna Sabalenka, Karolina Muchova, WTA Finals, Indian Wells, Wimbledon, Ashleigh Barty, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, Gabriela Sabatini, Riyadh ## Sources - [wtatennis.com](https://www.wtatennis.com/news/4609219/svitolina-downs-noskova-to-set-fage-wta-finals-championship-showdown-with-andreeva) - [straitstimes.com](https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/andreeva-dispatches-pegula-to-reach-wta-finals-championship-match) - [skysports.com](https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/13612358/wta-finals-mirra-andreeva-eliminates-jessica-pegula-to-reach-final-winning-in-straight-sets-after-diva-criticism) - [desertsun.com](https://www.desertsun.com/story/sports/tennis/2026/11/14/mirra-andreeva-looking-to-make-history-reaches-final-at-wta-finals/92784619007/)