In doing so, Andreeva became the youngest player to advance to the Indian Wells final since Kim Clijsters in 2001. She also became the fifth player to reach this stage before turning 18 years old since the tournament’s inception in 1989; the other four players to do so are Clijsters, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.

Mirra Andreeva credited a sudden surge of confidence in the first-set tie-break and playing confidently in the third set as one of the big reasons behind her Indian Wells victory against Iga Swiatek. On Friday, the 17-year-old registered her 11th consecutive win after overcoming the Polish defending champion 7-6 (1) 1-6 6-3.

Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed on Thursday, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert.