Youngest woman to win each of 10 WTA 1000 events: Jennifer Capriati won a title at 15, Mirra Andreeva enters list
One 15-year-old, two 16-year-olds, two 17-year-olds, a 19-year-old, three 20-year-olds and one 21-year-old are on the list of youngest-ever women to win each of the current WTA 1000 events.
There are currently 10 top-tier tournaments on the WTA Tour calendar and Mirra Andreeva has joined the list of youngest-ever WTA 1000 champions as she set a new record at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
It has been reported that Andreeva is the “youngest-ever WTA 1000 title winner”, but there is a disclaimer as that is since 2009.
Of course, the WTA has chopped and changed its tier-one level tournaments over the years with events like Hilton Head, Berlin and Tokyo either dropping off the calendar for a couple of years or being downgraded to WTA 500/250 tournaments.
But for now there are 10 WTA 1000 events on the calendar namely the Qatar Open, Dubai Tennis Championships, Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open, China Open and Wuhan Open.
So who are the youngest-ever winners at each of these events?
Qatar Open – Iga Swiatek (20 years and eight months)
Doha has only been a WTA 1000 event on three occasions as it first alternated with Dubai before becoming a permanent fixture in 2024.
The honour of the youngest player goes to Iga Swiatek as she was a couple of months shy of her 21st birthday when she won the title in 2022, beating Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-0 in the final.
That tournament also marked the start of her 37-match winning streak that season.
WTA Facts & Stats Features
Dubai Tennis Championships – Mirra Andreeva (17 years and nine months)
Move over Caroline Wozniacki as there is a new young champion in town. Wozniacki was 20 years old when she won the tournament in 2011, but Andreeva has smashed that record.
The 17-year-old beat three Grand Slam champions in Marketa Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina during her run to the final before getting the better of Clara Tauson 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 for her maiden WTA 1000 crown.
Indian Wells Open – Serena Williams (17 years and five months)
The women’s event has only been on the WTA Tour calendar since 1989 and 1999 rising star Serena Williams won her first-ever WTA Tier-1/WTA 1000 title when she beat the great Steffi Graf 6–3, 3–6, 7–5 in the Evert Cup (as it was known as back then) final.
The legendary American would go on to win another 22 WTA 1000 trophies.
Miami Open – Monica Seles (16 years and three months)
The new WTA Tier-1 format was introduced in 1990 and Yuvoslav-born Monica Seles opened her account with the Miami Open title in March that year.
The 16-year-old defeated Judith Wiesner 6-1, 6-2 in the final and a few weeks later she would go on to become the youngest-ever Grand Slam champion when she won the French Open. Of course, her record was broken by Martina Hingis in 1997.
Madrid Open – Petra Kvitova (21 years and two months)
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova is the only player to have won the Madrid Open three times and she is also the youngest as she had just turned 21 when she lifted the trophy in 2011.
She beat Victoria Azarenka 7–6 (7–3), 6–4 in the final to win her maiden WTA 1000 title.
Italian Open – Monica Seles (16 years and five months)
The great Monica Seles is the only one to appear on this list twice and a few months after she won the Miami Open, she lifted the Italian Open trophy.
Reuters reported that Seles “overwhelmed” Martina Navratilova 6–1, 6–1 in the final to win her fourth title of the year.
“I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Navratilova said during her post-match interview.
Canadian Open – Jennifer Capriati (15 years and four months)
Teenage sensation Jennifer Capriati was 14 years and 6 months when she won her maiden title in 1990 and the following year she won her first-ever WTA Tier-1 title in Toronto.
The American defeated Katerina Maleeva 6–2, 6–3 in the final and this is a record that will be difficult to break in future given the WTA Tour rules on teenagers.
Cincinnati Open – Coco Gauff (19 years and five months)
Coco Gauff enjoyed a dream summer in 2023 as she first win her maiden WTA 500 event in Washington DC and then followed it up with her first-ever WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati.
She defeated world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final before beating Karolina Muchova 6–3, 6–4 in the final.
Gauff went on to win the US Open – her maiden Grand Slam – a few weeks later.
The Cincinnati event was absent from the WTA Tour calendar for lengthy periods in the 70s, 80s and 90s so several big names missed out on playing at the tournament.
China Open – Caroline Wozniacki (20 years and three months)
Caroline Wozniacki reached her maiden Grand Slam final when she was only 19 as she finished runner-up at the 2009 US Open.
The next year she won her maiden WTA 1000 title in Beijing, beating Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 in the showpiece match.
The Dane also became world No 1 for the first time in her career after the event, replacing Serena Williams at the top of the WTA Rankings.
Wuhan Open – Aryna Sabalenka (20 years and four months)
The Wuhan event has only been part of the calendar since 2014 while it also had a lengthy absence due to Covid-19.
Aryna Sabalenka has won the event three times and the first of those was when she was just 20 and beat Anett Kontaveit 6–3, 6–3 in the final.
It was the biggest title of her career at the time, but she has since gone on to win three Grand Slams.
