LONDON – Amanda Anisimova upset No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Wimbledon on Thursday to reach the first Grand Slam final of her career a little more than a year after taking a break from tennis because of burnout.
The 13th-seeded Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida, was playing in her second major semifinal after losing at that stage at the 2019 French Open at age 17.
In May 2023, she took time off from the tour, saying she had been “ struggling with my mental health ” for nearly a year.
“This doesn’t feel real right now,” Anisimova said after ending the 2 hour, 36-minute contest with a forehand winner on her fourth match point. “I don’t know how I pulled it out.”
She will face either Iga Swiatek or Belinda Bencic on Saturday for the trophy. The winner will be the eighth consecutive first-time Wimbledon women’s champion.
For Sabalenka, who replaced Swiatek at No. 1 in October, this defeat prevented her from becoming the first woman to reach four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Serena Williams a decade ago.
Now 23, Anisimova is playing as well as ever, her crisp groundstrokes, particularly on the backhand side, as strong and smooth as anyone’s. She is guaranteed to break into the top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time after Wimbledon ends, no matter what happens in the title match — 12 months after losing in qualifying for the grass-court major and not making it into the main bracket.
Sabalenka missed Wimbledon a year ago because of an injured shoulder, then won the U.S. Open last September for her third Slam trophy.
During Williams’ run from 2014-15, she won four major titles in a row, the last woman to do that.
Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January, and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June, when Sabalenka’s post-match comments drew criticism and led her to apologize both to Gauff and publicly. Sabalenka and Gauff smoothed things over at the All England Club before the start of the grass-court tournament, dancing together on the main stadium’s grass and posting videos on social media.
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