Amanda Anisimova is enjoying her best-ever run at a WTA 1000 event after stunning Aryna Sabapenka to reach the semi-finals on Saturday.
The 22-year-old American powered her way to a 6-4, 6-2, win over the two-time Australian Open champion to claim her third win consecutive win over a top 10 player. Although one of those victories was achieved by her opponent retiring. Currently ranked 132nd in the world, she is the lowest-ranked player to reach the last four of a WTA 1000 event since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2019 Cincinnati Open.
“It was really windy, so I think it took some time for me to get used to that out there. I was just trying to play smart and try to make as little mistakes as possible.” Anisimova said after beating Sabalenka.
“Then in the second set, I think I stepped it up, and overall I’m happy with how I played.”
Anisimova’s surge on the Tour comes during what has been a roller-coaster season. Before this week, she failed to win back-to-back matches in six out of nine tournaments played. Although she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and last week made it through to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington as a qualifier.
The American looks to be heading back to her best form after experiencing challenges both on and off the court. Last year she ended her season in May to take an indefinite break from the sport due to mental health reasons linked to burnout.
“I think that after the break I felt very refreshed and just had a different kind of head space, like more clarity.” She explains.
“I was very burnt out before I took the break, so coming back I was enjoying it a lot more, and the training and all the process. I had a different perspective.”
“I’m really happy to be back and I think taking the break helped me because I honestly never took a break that was longer than like two weeks in my life.”
Whilst she is making steady progress on the Tour, Anisimova has big goals for the future. She has been ranked as high as 21st in the world and is a former French Open semi-finalist.
“I still hopefully have many more years left in my career and there are many goals that I have for myself,” she said.
“A small one for this year was to break into the top 100, and I’ve already done that (due to her run in Toronto this week), so I’m really happy about that. It’s just small steps in the right direction to hopefully achieve the things that I want to be able to achieve, like winning a Grand Slam and becoming No. 1 one day. I hope that with all the training I do and staying healthy I can get to that point.”
Anisimova will next play eighth seed Emma Navarro in the semi-finals on Sunday. The winner of that march will play either Diana Shnaider or Jessica Pegula.
