NEW YORK: American eighth seed Amanda Anisimova produced a stunning upset of Iga Swiatek to reach the semifinals of the US Open on Wednesday and avenge her Wimbledon final drubbing.
Anisimova — who suffered a crushing 6-0, 6-0 defeat as Swiatek clinched her first Wimbledon title in July — bounced back from that double-bagel disaster to win 6-4, 6-3 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Polish second seed Swiatek entered the US Open as the bookmakers’ favorite after following up her triumph at Wimbledon with victory in the WTA Cincinnati Open event last month.
But the six-time Grand Slam champion’s hopes of adding a second US Open title to her collection were dashed as Anisimova roared to a redemptive victory in an absorbing one hour 36-minute battle.
“To come back from Wimbledon like that is really special to me,” said Anisimova, who clinched victory in the second set after a net cord bounced in her favor on match point.
“I feel like I worked so hard to turn it around after that... I knew I was going to have to dig really deep.
It was such a tough match, truly a battle for me,” added the American, whose lopsided loss at Wimbledon was only the third Grand Slam final in history where a player had lost without winning a game.
Wednesday’s quarter-final had started ominously for Anisimova, with the American being broken in the first game of the opening set to give Swiatek the early initiative.
But Anisimova responded immediately to break and get it back on serve.
Anisimova was under pressure though in the fifth game, finding herself two break points down at 15-40. She dug herself out of that hole to hold for a 3-2 lead.
The breakthrough game in the 10th game when Swiatek’s shaky serve once again left her in trouble at 15-40 down
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