Mirra Andreeva rewrites history after shockingly missing out on 2025 WTA Finals

Mirra Andreeva looked almost certain of a place at the 2025 WTA Finals earlier this season, but despite her achievements, she failed to qualify.

From the second half of February until mid-March, 18-year-old Andreeva enjoyed the best stretch of her career so far. She had a breakthrough at significant tournaments that many felt was inevitable.

Andreeva became a WTA 1000 champion for the first time at the 2025 Dubai Championships. Her run to glory included victories against Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, and she gave an iconic speech thanking herself for the success afterward.

Many young players struggle immediately after a breakthrough success. Andreeva did the opposite by winning the 2025 Indian Wells Open, beating Swiatek and Rybakina again before overcoming world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Outside Grand Slams, 1000-level tournaments are the most important until the WTA Finals occur. Winning two of those events is usually good enough to qualify for the prestigious year-end championships.

Unfortunately for Andreeva, she became the first player since Victoria Azarenka to miss out on the WTA Finals after missing two 1000-level events. That happened in 2016, when the Belarusian achieved the Sunshine Double by winning the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open.

However, Azarenka had the significant mitigating circumstance of not playing after that year's French Open because she was pregnant. Andreeva played a full season but still could not make it despite her triumphs in Dubai and Indian Wells.

Andreeva has also collected a total of 4,319 points this year, and still failed to qualify. For comparison, players qualified for the year-end championships even with 2,935 and 3,096 points in the past few seasons.

Elena Rybakina's qualification hopes were slim after she lost to Eva Lys in the 2025 China Open round of 32. The Kazakhstani then had a decent run to the 2025 Wuhan Open quarterfinal, but it seemed like that would not be enough.

Rybakina deserves immense credit for the results she achieved in the last two weeks to secure the final qualifying spot. The 2022 Wimbledon champion won her second title of this year at the 2025 Ningbo Open, beating Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals.

Andreeva's surprising loss to Lin Zhu in the round of 16 at the Ningbo and not playing at the 2025 2025 Japan Open, reportedly because of visa trouble, left an opportunity for Rybakina. Reaching the semifinal in Tokyo would guarantee qualification.

The 26-year-old showed her trademark coolness on the court to get over the line. She beat the Canadian duo Leylah Fernandez and Victoria Mboko to make the semifinal and confirm her place in Riyadh.

Paolini had also been behind Rybakina in the qualification race until achieving strong results during the Asian swing. This year's Italian Open winner was among the China Open quarterfinalists before semifinal placings in Wuhan and Ningbo.

Andreeva will undoubtedly appear at the WTA Finals in the future because of her superb talent at a young age. However, she was unsettled in matches during the past few months, returning to having outbursts and not focusing.

That is an area where she can turn to Coco Gauff for inspiration. Despite breaking through at 15, the reigning French Open champion had incredible maturity. If she develops that, Andreeva has a much better chance of reaching the very top.