Tennis

Mirra Andreeva has risen to a career-best No. 9 in the rankings. That makes the Russian the first 17-year-old in the WTA’s Top 10 since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007. Andreeva moved up five spots thanks to her title Saturday in Dubai. She beat past Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova there en route to becoming the youngest player to claim the trophy at a WTA 1000 tournament. Australian Open winner Madison Keys also reached a career-high ranking on Monday. She moved up to No. 5 despite not playing a match since her triumph at Melbourne Park last month.

Andrey Rublev credited his mental approach after beating Jack Draper 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to win the Qatar Open for the second time. It was Rublev’s third three-set win in three days. The Russian also dropped the second set in his two previous matches against Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Rublev says he “was really good mentally and didn’t let frustration get over me." It was the 17th title of Rublev’s career. He earned his first Doha trophy in 2020. Rublev improved to 4-0 in his career against Draper. Draper will still improve to a career-high ranking of No. 12 on Monday.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva beat Clara Tauson 7-6 (1), 6-1 in the Dubai Championships to earn the biggest title of her career. The victory will earn Andreeva her debut in the top 10 of the rankings next week. She is the first 17-year-old to achieve that feat since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007. It caps quite a week for Andreeva. She also had wins over 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, five-time major champion Iga Swiatek and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to become the youngest player to defeat three major champions at a single event since Maria Sharapova at the 2004 WTA Finals. Andreeva’s only other title was the Iasi Open in Romania last year.

Teenager Mirra Andreeva has become the youngest player to reach the Dubai Championships final after beating Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The 17-year-old Andreeva trailed 3-1 in the third set before winning the last five games to reach her second tour final. She won in Iasi, Romania, last July. Clara Tauson, the Dane who knocked out world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, beat Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in the other semifinal. Tauson already has a title this year, in Auckland. She leads the tour in match wins, with 15. Andreeva is the youngest player in the top 100, and her run this week has put her on the brink of a maiden appearance in the top 10.

Jannik Sinner has been dropped from an exhibition event in Las Vegas next month while he is serving a three-month ban connected to a pair of failed doping tests. Casper Ruud is now slated to join Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul on March 2 as part of the MGM Rewards Slam at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The switch was announced Thursday in a news release. Last weekend, Sinner accepted the suspension as part of a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency. WADA had appealed a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to exonerate Sinner.

Dubai police detained a man who caused Emma Raducanu distress by exhibiting “fixated behavior” toward the British star at a tennis tournament. The government of Dubai’s media office says the 22-year-old Raducanu had been approached by the man at the Dubai Championships where he left her a note, took her photograph, and engaged in behavior that caused her distress. The government’s statement described the unidentified man only as “a tourist.” Raducanu ultimately decided to drop the charges against him. The 2021 U.S. Open champion had seen the man in the stands during her second-round match against Karolina Muchova on Tuesday night.