Amanda Anisimova took revenge on Iga Swiatek with a straight-sets win to reach the semi-finals of the US Open for the first time.
Anisimova progressed with a 6-4 6-3 victory in New York on Wednesday, with a hugely impressive performance.
“Playing here is so freaking special and I’ve been having the run of my life here,” Anisimova told the crowd after the match.
“The first day I got here I was like ‘ok, let’s try and get through one round’ but this has been such a dream.
“To come back from Wimbledon like that is really special to me and I feel like I worked so hard to try and turn it around from that and today proved everything for me, I can do it, so this is really special.
“From the get-go, I was trying to fire myself up. She’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever played and I knew I was going to have to dig really deep and it was such a tough match.
“I know the scoreline wasn’t three sets or anything, but it truly was a battle for me.”
Anisimova would have been forgiven for feeling a strange sense of deja vu after being broken in the opening game of this encounter.
But, unlike at the All England Club, this time she quickly rallied and her ultra-aggressive return of serve led her to immediately break back.
Animisova roared into the New York sky as she celebrated the first game she had ever won against the former world No. 1.
She followed this up with a love hold and Swiatek soon realised that she was facing a more significant challenge than in their last meeting.
Amanda Anisimova reacts on a day to remember for her in New York
Image credit: Getty Images
Anisimova continued to attack her opponent at every opportunity and was rewarded when she took the first set after coming out on top in some intense exchanges on the Swiatek serve.
Swiatek responded in the manner that the tennis world has come to expect of her, with the composure to break Animisova at the start of the second set, before holding her own serve.
But Anisimova, who fought off Jaqueline Cristian and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous two rounds, struck back to take the next three games.
The American was playing with swagger and a break of the Swiatek serve left her just a service game away from the semi-finals.
Swiatek approached her box looking dumbstruck at the relentless performance Anisimova was producing.
The home favourite allowed herself a wry smile as the energy of the crowd picked up as a packed Arthur Ashe anticipated a famous victory for the eighth seed.
After racing into a 40-0 lead, Anisimova allowed Swiatek back into the game but on her third match point, a routine backhand clipped the top of the net cord and dropped out of reach of her opponent.
A slice of luck had secured the win but this was a brilliant overall performance from Anisimova, who put her demons of Wimbledon far behind her and now advances to the last four.
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