American Amanda Anisimova beat Iga Świątek 6-4, 6-3 in the US Open quarter-finals, less than two months after losing to the six-time Grand Slam champion in the Wimbledon final 6-0, 6-0.
Anisimova, seeded number eight, reached her third major semifinal and her first at Flushing Meadows.
“Coming back from Wimbledon like this is really special for me,” said Anisimova, a 24-year-old born in New Jersey and raised in Florida.
“I feel like I’ve worked so hard to try to get over this…Today is really special.”
The powerful strokes and confidence she showed at Arthur Ashe Stadium against number two Świątek – the 2022 US Open champion – contrasted so starkly with what happened on center court at the All England Club on July 12.
That title match lasted just 57 minutes and Anisimova only managed to win by 24 points that day, a total she eclipsed about halfway through the first set this time.
Anisimova cried during her runner-up speech at the Wimbledon trophy ceremony; After that match, however, she was all smiles as she addressed thousands of supportive spectators who kept interrupting her on-court interview with cheers.
“Playing here is so special,” Anisimova said.
“And I lived the life of my life here.”
Anisimova served first and was immediately broken when she lost three points in a row by missing forehands – one into the net, one wide, one long.
But Anisimova immediately fought back and was soon the one dictating the points with her strong, flat groundstrokes that ended up contributing to a total of 23 winners, 10 more than Świątek had accumulated.
Anisimova also played quite cleanly, committing only 12 unforced errors.
In the second set, Anisimova fell behind again, this time 2-0.
But she regrouped again and quickly gained the upper hand. Świątek was the one who looked increasingly frustrated, shaking her head or slumping her shoulders between points, spreading her arms wide and looking to her coach for advice, and leaning back in her changing chair as if thinking about what exactly she could do differently.
When Świątek double faulted to lead 5-3 in the second set, it gave Anisimova the victory.
“Right from the start, I was trying to motivate myself,” Anisimova said.
“She’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever faced. I knew I was going to have to dig deep.”
Anisimova will face Osaka in the last four
Naomi Osaka took 109 minutes to beat Karolína Muchová and reach the semi-finals of the US Open. (Getty Images: Clive Brunskill)
Anisimova will attempt to reach a second consecutive major final when she faces four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the semi-final.
Osaka defeated Karolína Muchová 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in a match that should have been straightforward but was not, although the Czech player was hampered by injury for much of the match.
Some of Osaka’s forehands were simply outstanding, but the Japanese star failed to take full advantage of her opponent’s limitations after a medical timeout and special attention to her left thigh.
Despite obvious discomfort, Muchová held on to force a tiebreak in the second set, but when she lost 3-1, the end was near.
She almost won the mini-break, but her near-winner was 1 millimeter away.
Osaka held four match points and, although she gave up the first, she forced Muchová into an error that ended the match.
Every time Osaka has ever reached the quarterfinals of a major tournament, she has won.
She has two Australian Open titles and two US Open titles to her credit, and she is now two matches away from a third crown at Flushing Meadows.
AP/ABC
