She won a WTA title when she was just 14 years old but it took another 11 years until she officially became world number one
The WTA Tour has a new superstar on the rise, with teenager Mirra Andreeva winning the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Aryna Sabalenka backed Andreeva to break the top 10, with the 17-year-old rising from 14th to ninth in the WTA rankings after her latest success.
Andreeva is inspired by Roger Federer, but the youngster is now forging her own path in tennis, with two WTA titles now secured in her career so far.
The Russian defeated fellow youngster Clara Tauson in the Dubai Tennis Championships, with the 22-year-old rising to 23rd in the rankings following her superb run.
Andreeva and Tauson helped form the youngest-ever WTA 1000 final combined age, with the former winning the clash 7-6(7-1), 6-1.
Jennifer Capriati becomes world number one 11 years after first title
And her fantastic venture is certainly reminiscent of that of Jennifer Capriati, who was 14 years and six months when she won the 1990 Puerto Rico Open.
It represented a maiden title for the American superstar, who clinched 14 career titles in total before retiring in 2004.
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Capriati overcame Zina Garrison in Puerto Rico, with the second seed coming from behind to beat the top seed 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Remarkably, however, the American needed to wait until October 2001 until she moved to the summit of the world rankings.
Three Grand Slam titles among Jennifer Capriati’s honours list
But Capriati’s extremely promising start to her career was still followed by plenty of success in the ensuing years.
The young star would end 1990 ranked eighth in the world, 17 places higher than her debut ranking of 25.
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An Olympic gold medal went her way shortly after in Barcelona in 1992, where Capriati beat top two seeds Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Steffi Graf en route to the top prize.
Three Grand Slam titles followed, with the American winning the Australian Open and French Open in 2001, before further success in Melbourne a year later.
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 2001 | Australian Open | Hard | Martina Hingis | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 2001 | French Open | Clay | Kim Clijsters | 1–6, 6–4, 12–10 |
| Win | 2002 | Australian Open | Hard | Martina Hingis | 4–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–2 |
Capriati, who held the number one ranking for 18 weeks, ended her phenomenal career shortly after in 2004.
A superb 430-176 win-loss record stands by her name, with Capriati inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012.
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