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Gazing up at the translucent Centre Court ceiling, Amanda Anisimova raised the roof at Wimbledon..
On her second match point, Anisimova spun a clean backhand winner down the line, closing a tense 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 triumph over Linda Noskova to surge into her second Wimbledon quarterfinal in the last three years.
Anisimova won five of the final six games to rally past the 20-year-old Czech into her third career major quarterfinal.
“It was an incredibly tough match—Linda was really pushing me—she’s a really tough player to face,” Anisimova said. “It was a really huge battle. It’s my first time playing on this court, so yeah it was a great experience.”
An emotional Anisimova pinched back tears after clinching the victory. You can understand the outpouring of emotion.
A year ago, Anisimova arrived at SW19 ranked No. 189 and lost to Eva Lys, 6-4, in the third set in her final qualifying match.
Showing signs of frustrations when she got down today, Anisimova dug in with defiance and used her vaunted two-handed backhand to battle back as fans greeted her with chants of “USA! USA!”
“I was trying to not look at [my coaches] too much because I was getting so stressed out,” Anisimova said. “I was trying to keep my nerves at bay— something they try to instill in me—but it’s not easy at times like this. There were quite a few American supporters out there today and I love that. “
Contesting her fourth Wimbledon, Anisimova is one of four American singles stars still in the draw alongside Emma Navarro, who plays Monday, Taylor Fritz, who defeated Jordan Thompson today and Ben Shelton, who also plays tomorrow.
Queen's Club finalist Anisimova made her Centre Court debut one to remember.
“It’s amazing to be back here,” Anisimova said. “Honestly coming back after last year playing in qualies here I didn’t expect to be in the quarterfinals here. So I’m so excited and so proud of myself just looking forward to another challenge.”
This trip to the second week opens more opportunities for Anisimova, who will face 50th-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the semifinals.
The 2021 Roland Garros finalist Pavlyuchenkova ended the dreams of British home hope Sonay Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4 in today’s Centre Court opener. Anisimova is 3-0 lifetime against Pavlyuchenkova.
“She’s a super experienced player,” Anisimova said. “She plays really well on grass. It’s also her second quarterfinal. She’s an unbelievable player and hopefully it’s gonna be another great battle. Hopefully you guys can come out and support.”
Today’s fourth-round match was a clash of massive hitters pitting Tennis Now's pre-tournament Wimbledon Dark Horse picks.
The 30th-seeded Noskova, who famously knocked off Iga Swiatek en route to the 2024 Australian Open quarterfinals, slid an ace down the T capping a love hold to get on the board for 1-3.
Launching herself up and out on serve, Anisimova answered with a love hold for a 4-1 lead after a mere 19 minutes of play.
Bouncing behind the baseline, Anisimova drilled a diagonal forehand winner breaking again to snatch the opening set in 35 minutes.
No. 13-seeded Anisimova smacked 11 winners against only nine errors and served 73 percent in the set. Noskova, who committed 15 unforced errors trying to combat the American’s jolting power, left the court for a bathroom break to try to regroup.
A refreshed Noskova held the baseline in a toe-to-toe exchange drawing a netted forehand to forge her first break for a 2-1 second-set lead.
Finding her range and rhythm, Noskova played over Anisimova’s head holding at 15 for 5-3 then tapped her Yonex stick against her sneaker sole and jumped up and down showing plenty of life in her legs.
Serving for the set at 5-4, Noskova laced her eighth ace for set point only to see Anisimova fire a forehand return off the sideline to save it. The forehand was during in that 10th game as Anisimova cracked another forehand return for a break point. A big backhand return gave Anisimova the break to level after 10 games.
All that good work dissolved in the 11th game as Anisimova coughed up a double fault ending a sloppy game to gift back the break and a 6-5 lead.
This time, Noskova made no mistake pumping her ninth ace sending a puff of white sideline up in the air to close the second set.
The pair would play a decider with a trip to the last eight on the line.
An Anisimova mis-hit double fault put her down love-30 in the third game. The American flew a forehand long to face triple break point. When Anisimova’s backhand went wide, Noskova had her second love break in the last three games for a 2-1 lead in the decider.
Playing just her third Wimbledon, Noskova surged through eight straight points pounding down her 11th ace to back up the love break with a strong shutout hold for 3-1.
Digging in, Anisimova asserted her aggression, hustling hard to run down a drop shot, sprinting backward then belting a backhand winner to break back at love for 3-all in the final set.
Slamming her fifth ace, Anisimova applied an eight-point run of her own with a shutout hold for 4-3 shifting stress right back on the 20-year-old Czech’s shoulders.
Exhaling deeply, Anisimova was serving at 30-all when she smashed an ace and blitzed a backhand winner holding for 5-4.
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In the final game, Anisimova went all in on deep baseline drives earning double match point. Credit Noskova for a gutsy second serve off the line to save the first.
Belting a backhand to open the court, Anisimova moved up to the mid-court ball and ended it with a backhand down the line and tears of joy.