Amanda Anisimova fired 28 winners while posting a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory over fellow American Emma Navarro on Sunday to reach the championship match of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
Anisimova had a 4-2 edge in aces and won 73 percent of her first-serve points (27 of 37) in the semifinal match while dispatching the eighth-seeded Navarro.
It continues a fine week for Anisimova, who dominated No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Anisimova, 22, will be playing in her first WTA 1000-level final on Monday. She is ranked No. 132 in the world.
“This is a huge accomplishment for me, and something I’ve been working really hard towards,” Anisimova said. “I’m just super happy, honestly, with my week here, and I’m pretty surprised with how well I’ve been able to do so far.
“I’m still hungry for more, and I hope that I can really do well (Monday).”
Anisimova will be looking for her third WTA title and first since early 2022. She missed a large part of the 2023 season while focusing on her mental health.
“I knew that when I stepped away that I really wanted to come back and I didn’t want to finish my career on that note,” Anisimova said. “There was still a lot that I wanted to achieve, and just not finish at such a young age, because I had sacrificed so much and given so much to the sport.”
Navarro had just 10 winners. She saved 7 of 11 break points but committed six double faults.
No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States will take on Anisimova in the final after recording a 6-4, 6-3 sweep of Russia’s Diana Shnaider, the No. 14 seed, on Sunday.
Pegula, the defending champion of the tournament, won 24 of 33 first-serve points against Shnaider while saving 2 of 3 break points.
Shnaider saved 7 of 11 break points, but she also finished with zero aces against four double faults.
Should Pegula successfully defend her title, she would become the first woman to accomplish the feat at the National Bank Open since Switzerland’s Martina Hingis went back-to-back in 1999 and 2000.
It took just 83 minutes for Pegula to knock off Shnaider on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
