She trailed 3-0 in the opening set, and all eyes were on Victoria Mboko, who was angling to make a big statement in a heavily anticipated battle of teenagers on Saturday in Adelaide.
The momentum was firmly in Mboko’s hand for that brief moment – then it wasn’t.
Mirra Andreeva stormed back to win 12 of the final 13 games, the Russian making an emphatic statement of intent as she closed a 6-3, 6-1 win to claim her fourth career WTA title and first at the 500 level.
Third-seeded Andreeva dropped four points in four games as she rallied from 0-3 to 4-3 and she converted her third break point of the final game to claim the set.
She stretched her run of games to nine before Mboko, now struggling physically under the weight of a challenging week that saw her three three-set victories, could only manage one more game, and she even had to save a break point to claim it, for 1-3 in the final set.
Andreeva, shrewd and efficient, swept through the final three games, dropping just four points across them as she closed out the final in 64 minutes, winning the title on her main draw debut.
The world No.8, who defeated Marie Bouzkova, Maya Joint and Diana Shnaider to reach the final, dropped just 15 games in four matches and didn’t drop more than three games in any single set.
