No. 13 seed Amanda Anisimova fought off World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and the scorching temperatures to reach her first final at a major event on Thursday at Wimbledon.
Anisimova cashed in the third of her three match points in the decider to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours, 37 minutes.
In just one year, the American has gone from failing to qualify to Wimbledon finalist. At 23, she becomes the first player born in the 2000s to reach the final on the grass court in London.
In the finals, she will meet another child of the 21st century after No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland breezed to a 6-2, 6-0 victory against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
“This doesn’t feel real right now, honestly,” Anisimova said in her on-court interview. “Aryna’s such a tough competitor, and I was absolutely dying out there. I don’t know how I pulled it out. She’s such an incredible competitor.”
For Anisimova, if was her sixth career Top 5 win and first over a World No. 1. She moved to 6-3 against Sabalenka, from Belarus, who has won three Grand Slam events but never reached the finals at Wimbledon.
Anisimova was able to shrug off some trash talk from Sabalenka, as well as a disappointing drop of the second set that kept Sabalenka in the match. Down 5-3, Anisimova fought off four set points to hold serve but was steamrolled in the following game to lose the set.
In the third set, Anisimova had match point serving 5-3 and up a break, but Sabalenka fought off one match point to have the chance to get back on serve.
But with Sabalenka serving to potentially tie the match, Anisimova won three quick points for triple match point.
The win comes after Anisimova took an eight-month break from April 2023 to the start of 2024 for mental health.
“To be honest, if you told me I would be in the final at Wimbledon I would not believe you — at least not this soon,” she said. “It’s been a year turnaround. … To be in this spot, I mean it’s not easy and so many people dream of competing on this incredible court. It’s been such a privilege to compete here and to be in the final is just indescribable.”
Swiatek, 24, reached her first Wimbledon final with a 72-minute dismantling of Bencic. Swiatek saved both break points she faced and won 84 percent (26 of 31) of the points behind her first serve, finishing with a decisive 26-11 advantage in winners.
“I never dreamt it would be possible for me to play in the final,” Swiatek said. “Tennis keeps surprising me. I thought I lived through everything.”
Swiatek is 5-0 in Grand Slam singles finals, winning four times on the clay at the French Open (2020, 2022-24) and once on the hard surface at the U.S. Open (2022). The former World No. 1 has not lifted a trophy since her last win at Roland Garros.
Swiatek and Anisimova have somehow never faced each other on the WTA Tour. They met once as juniors in 2016, with Swiatek winning in straight sets.
–Field Level Media
