{"id":135640,"date":"2025-09-05T22:17:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T22:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135640\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T22:17:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T22:17:06","slug":"anisimova-takes-on-sabalenka-in-the-us-open-womens-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135640\/","title":{"rendered":"Anisimova takes on Sabalenka in the US Open women’s final"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 It is impossible to look ahead to Amanda Anisimova\u2019s U.S. Open final<\/a> against defending champion Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> on Saturday without viewing it through the prism of what happened less than two months ago at the last Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Impossible for Anisimova<\/a>. Impossible for Sabalenka. Impossible for anyone, really.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, for one thing, Anisimova made it to her first title match at any Grand Slam tournament by beating the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka<\/a> in the semifinals at the All England Club to improve to 6-3 in their head-to-head series. And because, of course, Anisimova\u2019s major final debut ended with a loss \u2014 and not just any sort of loss, but a 6-0, 6-0 shutout against Iga Swiatek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amanda Anisimova seeks her 1st major title, Aryna Sabalenka her 4th<\/p>\n

The way Anisimova, a 24-year-old American who is the No. 8 seed at Flushing Meadows, managed to put that defeat behind her immediately and not just play well, but well enough to eliminate Swiatek<\/a>, of all people, in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, en route to making it to another final, is remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows that I have worked really hard, especially on my mental game and not giving up,\u201d Anisimova said after coming back to defeat four-time major champion Naomi Osaka<\/a> 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a semifinal that ended shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday. \u201cLike today, I could have easily said, \u2018Oh, she\u2019s playing better than me, and I can\u2019t really do anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Anisimova didn\u2019t shy away from thinking about, or talking about, what happened at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Rather than completely erase it, she even watched that final the night before her rematch against Swiatek in New York, \u201cas painful as it was, just to see what I can avoid or what went wrong,\u201d said Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida. <\/p>\n

Anisimova learned from the Wimbledon final to get to the US Open final<\/p>\n

She paid attention to tennis-specific aspects, and made an effort to understand how to better deal with the kinds of pressure that arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have really worked on myself to really be able to handle those moments and to believe in myself, even when it feels like, \u2018What is there to believe in?\u2019 in a way, when you\u2019re not playing that well,\u201d she said. \u201cI have really done a better job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That helped against Osaka, who was a game from winning while up a set and 6-5 in the second.<\/p>\n

Anisimova acknowledged afterward she experienced nerves and stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep telling myself that I can do it, and I believe in myself. I keep saying that over and over again, not just in the match, but the whole day. I really try and tell my brain, or I guess I feel like (if I) \u2018manifest\u2019 it,\u201d Anisimova said, using two fingers to make air quotes, \u201cor visualize it, then it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anisimova beat Coco Gauff in the 2017 US Open junior final<\/p>\n

This is the sort of elite play expected of Anisimova since she was a teen who beat Coco Gauff in the 2017 U.S. Open junior final. As a pro in 2019, at 17, Anisimova reached the French Open semifinals. Then, in 2023, she took a mental-health break because of burnout.<\/p>\n

As Anisimova now pursues her first Grand Slam championship, Sabalenka will be seeking her fourth overall and second U.S. Open trophy<\/a> in a row. The last woman to win consecutive titles in New York was Serena Williams, who captured three straight in 2012-14.<\/p>\n

Both of Saturday\u2019s finalists are equipped with some of the biggest groundstrokes in the game. <\/p>\n

Sabalenka is a premier server; Anisimova\u2019s among the best returners around.<\/p>\n

Anisimova defeated Sabalenka in the Wimbledon semifinals in July<\/p>\n

After her semifinal win over 2024 U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula on Thursday, Sabalenka was asked what sticks out from the loss to Anisimova in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to trust myself, and I have to go after my shots. I felt like in that match at Wimby, I was doubting a lot my decisions, and that was the main thing that was bringing a lot of unforced errors,\u201d said Sabalenka, the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Gauff at the French Open in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave her a lot of opportunities, and of course, she played incredible tennis,\u201d Sabalenka said about Anisimova, \u201cbut I feel like I had my opportunities. I didn\u2019t use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Howard Fendrich has been the AP\u2019s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/howard-fendrich<\/a>. More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 It is impossible to look ahead to Amanda Anisimova\u2019s U.S. Open final against defending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[3842,652,5113,2822,2808,22705,2660,23004,12764,18323,1997,2005,1999,6542,99,428,31291,2467,1765,63810],"class_list":{"0":"post-135640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-amanda-anisimova","9":"tag-aryna-sabalenka","10":"tag-coco-gauff","11":"tag-fl-state-wire","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-howard-fendrich","14":"tag-iga-swiatek","15":"tag-jessica-pegula","16":"tag-madison-keys","17":"tag-naomi-osaka","18":"tag-new-jersey","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-city","21":"tag-serena-williams","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-tennis","24":"tag-u-s-open-tennis-championships","25":"tag-wimbledon-championships","26":"tag-womens-sports","27":"tag-womens-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}