The world No.5 will be looking to build on her 2025 grass court season where she enjoyed runs to the final at The Queen’s Club and at Wimbledon that helped her record the most grass-court wins at tour-level last year (12).
Now sitting with a 26-12 win rate on the surface, she’s one to watch on the grass as she hopes to build on last year’s performance.
“It was an incredible year for me last year,” Anisimova added when asked about her learnings from the previous year. “A lot of highs and a lot of low moments where there were some tough lessons that I had to learn, but those are the ones that shape me as a person and as an athlete.
“I was injured for a little bit throughout this year, and that was really difficult, so I’m just super happy to be back and will hopefully have some good vibes going from last year.”
After a bye in the first round, Anisimova didn’t show any sign of nerves in her opening match, with the HSBC Championships marking just her second tournament since sustaining a wrist injury at the Miami Open in March.
The second seed came out aggressively from the outset, immediately testing Siegemund and creating a break point opportunity in the opening game.
After edging 2–1 ahead, the American rattled off four consecutive games, using her powerful serve and relentless attacking style to pile on the pressure. Anisimova was significantly more aggressive throughout the match, hitting attacking shots nearly twice as often as Siegemund (31% to 16%).
The double break soon followed, giving the American the opportunity to serve out the opening set. Even a rain delay midway through the game couldn’t disrupt her rhythm, and an unreturned serve sealed a one set lead.
Carrying that momentum into the second, the four-time WTA title-holder secured an early break before backing it up with a hold to love to move 2-0 ahead.
Siegemund, making her tournament debut this week, continued to battle hard – a lengthy service game at 1-3 saw the German save a break point and prevent the match from slipping away completely.
But Anisimova remained dominant on serve, dropping just a single service point throughout the second set as she maintained complete control.
Holding onto three match points, the US Open finalist finished with a flourish at the net and a perfectly placed volley left Siegemund with no answer, as Anisimova sealed her place in the quarter-finals.