Amanda Anisimova surprises Aryna Sabalenka and goes to the final at Wimbledon

World No. 12 Amanda Anisimova of the United States beats No. 1 Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka with a score of 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the first Wimbledon women’s singles semifinal. Two hours and 37 minutes was the duration of the match.

First set without break points until the sixth game, when it was Sabalenka who saved two in a row, in the next game Anisimova saved herself from 0-40 and then cancelled a fourth break point. At 5-4 the U.S., at the end of a game in which the Belarusian misses five balls for 5-5, makes the break and pockets the first set on the second ball.

The first half of the second set is also without a single break ball, the first being the one with which Anisimova loses her serve at 3-3, at 5-3 Sabalenka misses four set points but in the next game, with her service game in hand, she extends the match.

Aryna breaks Amanda’s serve at zero at the beginning of the third set, but with the Belarusian there is never any certainty: she loses four games in a row and even saves a 1-5 ball. On 5-3 Anisimova has a match point, gets countered, but in the next game Sabalenka goes 0-40, saves two more match points but on the fourth she has to surrender.

The last U.S. player to reach the final at the Championships was Serena Williams, who in 2019 landed there for the 11th and last time, losing to Simona Halep. Anisimova in the same 2019 at not even 18 years old had made it to the semifinals at Roland Garros, while at Wimbledon she went all the way to the quarterfinals in 2022.

On the other hand, Sabalenka’s dream of winning on the grass at Church Road, where for the third time she stops in the semifinals, fades once again. Anisimova will meet the winner between Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.