Advantage Andreeva or Svitolina’s to lose? Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver put forward compelling arguments ahead of WTA Finals climax

The 2026 WTA Finals final is set in stone, and it blends a good mix of youthful energy and experienced pedigree locking horns in California for one of tennis' most coveted titles. Mirra Andreeva and Elina Svitolina both have strong cases for success, with Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver posing arguments for the duo amid their title prospects.

As the WTA Finals is set for a highly anticipated conclusion, it has been a memorable one for all the right and wrong reasons. Headlines were made even before the tennis had started with 'diva-gate' a topic for later in the tournament, with Andreeva getting the last laugh.

Once the tennis started, that was the talk of the town. Andreeva was one of the headline acts, demolishing Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 in the opening match to get her debut off to a winning start. She breezed past Aryna Sabalenka and alternative Diana Shnaider in impressive fashion, reaching the semi-finals without even dropping a set.

The highly anticipated battle of the divas would commence, and Pegula's comments made on that fateful practice session would come back to bite her. The 19-year-old took down the 32-year-old American 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final in her very first attempt, still yet to drop a set.

For Svitolina, she had to go the scenic route. Her chances of qualifying were dented and then boosted after a dramatic contest against Karolina Muchova. Going down a set, she dropped just four games for the rest of the match and set up a winners-take-all clash against Sabalenka. The Belarusian forced a third set, but the resulting collapse gifted Svitolina a pathway into the semi-finals.

The Ukrainian was second favourite on paper against an ominous Linda Noskova but took just 64 minutes to bypass the Wimbledon champion and reach a third WTA Finals final. The scene has been set, with both players determined to triumph in Indian Wells.

Andreeva's 2026 season has show periods where she looks almost unbeatable. This first occurred on clay with titles in Linz and Roland Garros. She ended the season in a strong manner as well, but no one could have expected her to be this dominant. After missing out on qualifying by a handful of points last year, she left nothing to chance and lit California alight with some mesmerising tennis.

Coached by Conchita Martinez, who featured in this event 12 separate times, they have built an incredible relationship with another huge title on the line to prove their insurmountable bond. The youngest WTA Finals finalist since Maria Sharapova in 2004, she has defeated Svitolina twice in three meetings, both coincidentally coming at Indian Wells. Possibly a very good omen.

Navratilova, who won eight WTA Finals singles titles and 13 doubles, lavishly praised the Russian for a splendid week of tennis. “She’s just really confident right now. She’s hit her sweet spot, and maybe playing back-to-back matches helps because you’ve built up that momentum and you can still feel it," she said on the WTA website.

"She looks really sharp. It’s hard to find an opening against her because she’s serving big and mixing it up. She hits a 90 mph serve wide with a lot of slice, and then she hits 115 down the T. It really spreads the court, particularly in the deuce court."

More controlled on serve, she will be tough to crack. “It’s hard to get into her service games, and then she jumps on your second serve. So maybe you take a little off your first serve just to get it in. She knows exactly what she wants to do, and she has the confidence to execute. And I still feel like she’s not redlining it on serve. She’s still growing into her body."

Her mentality, which has been lambasted numerous times in the past, has proven not to be a factor of concern in this tournament, with Navratilova pinpointing the Sabalenka contest. “What impressed me was when she was down 4-1 in the first set against Sabalenka. I thought she was going to lose that set, and she didn’t. She made Sabalenka look silly, and that’s not easy. She’s peaking at the right time.”

Svitolina has featured in the tour finals on four occasions, from 2017 to 2019 and in 2026. She failed to get out of the group stage in her debut campaign, a huge contrast to Andreeva, but has reached the final in the other three. She was a huge outsider in 2018 but snuck into the event and toppled Sloane Stephens for the biggest title of her career.

She was unable to repeat the goods a year later, losing out to Ashleigh Barty. Seven years later, she continues where she left off. Not bothered by the outside tag, she has come through the rounds the hard way but improved significantly throughout. The win over Noskova was especially impressive, winning nine games in a row en route to a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

The oldest finalist since Venus Williams in 2017, she picked up a first and only win over Andreeva at the Australian Open earlier this year as she culminated in another Grand Slam semi-final. A sucker punch to the inevitable hard blows Andreeva will send her way, she will hope to control from the baseline in a similar vein to what she did against Noskova.

10-time WTA Finals doubles champion, Shriver, put forward an argument favouring the experience of Svitolina, in a realm she is familiar in. “Svitolina’s won it before. In the semifinals, where obviously her opponent Noskova wasn’t able to play her best tennis, Svitolina showed why she’s played her best tennis since coming back from maternity leave," she said.

The improvement is evident, with few flaws to pick from her game. "Her forehand was super aggressive, and her serve is so much more improved. Svitolina doesn’t have the holes in her game that she used to have, which were one of the weaker second serves in the game and a forehand that couldn’t hurt you. She’s a much more well-rounded player than she was in her first career."

A laser-focus mentality locks her in and unearths a very high level. “The other thing is Svitolina, like so many great players, is compartmentalising and using the tennis court as her safe haven, where she focuses and leaves the storms off court. She goes into hyper-focus mode. The other thing I noticed about Svitolina today, or was reminded of, is that she is one of the best anticipators of the ball. She reads the play beautifully.”