Mirra Andreeva arrived at the Adelaide final day juggling match preparation and a small personal debate. “It’s going to be very entertaining,” she said of the championship match, but immediately after her semifinal she admitted she was torn over how to unwind: “It’s like a chocolate fondant with pistachio sauce inside. And I’m debating whether I should go and have the dessert, or whether I should just should stay in the room and watch some Netflix.”

Whatever she chose, the 18-year-old world No. 8 understood the task ahead. She will meet 19-year-old Victoria Mboko for the title, a first meeting since their junior days. Andreeva, the No. 3 seed who advanced by brushing aside her former doubles partner Diana Shnaider, is contesting a title match for the first time since Indian Wells.

Andreeva offered a measured assessment of her opponent: “I felt like she’s been playing well, and she’s been raising her level tournament to tournament. I know that she likes to take the ball early. She likes to be aggressive on the court. She likes to dictate the point as well. She has a great serve.”

Mboko has arrived in Adelaide on the back of a breakthrough 2025 season. She earned WTA Newcomer of the Year after climbing more than 300 places into the year-end Top 20 and captured her first tour-level crown, a WTA 1000 title in Montreal. The Canadian then added a second WTA triumph in Hong Kong to finish the season.

“Seeing her uprise, I think it’s motivating for me and I think a lot of young girls out there who want to play at this level of tennis,” Mboko said of Andreeva. “Yeah, it’s just a nice thing to see. She’s a super nice girl, and we’re quite good friends off the court.”

Mboko, the eighth seed in Adelaide, improved to 5-1 on the young season after dismissing Kimberly Birrell and said the extra court hours can help: “I think having that many hours on court can help you. It can help me in the next round, being in difficult situations, and just generally improving throughout the tournament.”

Andreeva, visibly eager for the match, added: “Honestly, if I could have played tonight, I would have played. Because, I don’t know, for some reason I’m so excited to go on court tomorrow. I’m just happy to share the final with Vicky.”

Tatjana Maria defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Hobart International, registering a straight-sets win in the first career meeting between the two veterans. The 38-year-old mother of two closed out the match after breaking serve five times in just under an hour-and-a-half on court.

Their combined age exceeded 84 years, making it the oldest match on the WTA tour since the tour began in 1973. The result followed Maria’s loss the previous week in the first round of the Brisbane International to 17-year-old Aussie Emerson Jones.

“Everybody loves Venus—I love her too!” the German said, noting a local connection: Maria makes her family home near Williams in Florida. She also described her children’s excitement about the matchup. Maria said her two daughters, 12-year-old Charlotte and 4-year-old Cecilia, count Williams among their favorite players.

“They said they are for me! But Charlotte’s reaction was, ‘Oh my God, that’s amazing. I’m going to see Venus against you?’,” Maria said. “For me, to play her was such an honor because I never played her before. It was not easy with all the wind but it was amazing.”

For Williams, the loss extended a difficult run in main-draw singles. Since becoming the second-oldest winner of a WTA main-draw singles match in the Open Era last summer in Washington, D.C., former world No. 1 Williams has lost five straight singles matches. The Hobart meeting paired two experienced players and produced a clear, straight-sets outcome as the early-season events continue to unfold.

Top-seeded Elina Svitolina captured her 19th WTA Tour title Sunday at the ASB Classic, defeating seventh-seeded Wang Xinyu 6-3, 7-6 (8). The 13th-ranked Svitolina improved to 5-0 to open the year after ending 2025 on a four-match losing streak and now owns 19 titles from 24 finals appearances.

This was Svitolina’s first tournament since she took a mental health break that ended her 2025 season in September. She was supported courtside throughout the week by her husband Gael Monfils, who won the men’s title in Auckland last year and will defend that title from Monday.

“It definitely feels amazing to win another title, especially after a not very pleasant end of year for me,” Svitolina said. “But that break really helped me to regroup and come back with a new energy and I’m very happy that I got a title here.

“This one was very special because, obviously, my husband won here last year and this year he told me if you don’t win this year I don’t know what to tell you anymore.”

Svitolina showed resilience from the start, saving a break point in her opening service game. Wang, in her first WTA Tour final, displayed sharp net play and a well-disguised drop shot, weapons notable from her French Open doubles success.

Svitolina converted her first break opportunity in the sixth game and closed out the opening set in just over 30 minutes. In the second set, Wang held a tight opening game and used a drop shot to force Svitolina out of position, then survived break points in the fifth with a running volley and pushed to lead 5-4.

The match reached a tiebreak where Wang took an early advantage, but Svitolina quickly recovered. She produced two powerful serves to move ahead 6-5, survived a saved championship point and then seized a crucial minibreak before serving out the victory on her second match point.

Svitolina now heads to Melbourne, where she will play an exhibition against fourth-ranked Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday.