Amanda Anisimova staged a remarkable comeback Wednesday, rallying past top seed Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Making her tournament debut, the fourth-seeded American clinched second place in the Serena Williams Group, finishing behind Elena Rybakina, who earlier capped her group stage with a perfect 3-0 record by defeating Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-4.
The victory marked Anisimova’s 10th top-10 win of the season and improved her three-set record this year to an impressive 15-3, further cementing her status as one of the circuit’s toughest competitors under pressure.
“It’s so funny, my mom keeps telling me, ‘You know you’ve won so many three-set matches this year? You’re so strong.’ I was actually thinking about that. Against Iga today it was so, so tough, but honestly, I enjoyed it,” said Anisimova, who reached the finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open this year.
“I’m so excited to be in the semifinals. This is surreal, especially for my first time playing here.”
Swiatek and Anisimova split their two previous meetings, with the former triumphing in the Wimbledon final and the latter avenging that loss in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
On Wednesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena, the Pole saved all four break points she faced before clinching the tiebreak to bag the opening set in 65 minutes.
The quality was high throughout and little separated the pair until Anisimova finally converted a break point in Game 10 of the second set to draw level and force a decider.
The American made the first move in the final set, breaking in the fourth game on a Swiatek double fault. Another break sealed the deal for Anisimova over the six-time Grand Slam champion in two hours, 36 minutes.
It was the first time in Swiatek’s career that she suffered back-to-back losses after winning the opening set.
The 24-year-old Pole was at a loss for words when trying to explain her defeat.
“I felt good mentally, physically and tennis-wise also. It was nice, looking at the conditions and everything, so I don’t really get why I couldn’t go out of the group,” said a disappointed Swiatek.
“Maybe I won too much in the last years and this is karma. It’s really hard for me to say. It feels weird. It’s not like I’m expecting to win, but from my experiences, if I put so much intensity and grit and cared that much, it usually paid off. So we’ll see if I keep working if it’s going to pay off or not.”
In a rematch of the Ningbo final from three weeks ago, won by Rybakina, the Kazakh fired eight aces and saved five of six break points en route to a 73-minute victory.
The world No. 6 extended her current winning streak to nine consecutive matches – a run that began in Ningbo on Oct. 16 and has continued through Tokyo, from which she withdrew at the semifinal stage, and now Riyadh.
“Ekaterina is always a tough opponent and has a big serve. I’m happy I was able to win in straight sets. Each win gives you confidence, and I’m pretty happy that for now my last matches have been great,” said Rybakina, who was playing with taping on her shoulder.
Rybakina entered the match against Alexandrova having already secured her place in the semifinals as the winner of the group.
Alexandrova was brought in as a replacement for American Madison Keys, who withdrew ahead of the match due to a viral illness.
The Australian Open champion suffered two defeats in round-robin play this week in Riyadh – to Swiatek and Anisimova – and had no chance of advancing to the knockout stage.
Thursday will see the conclusion of the Stefanie Graf Group, with Belarusian top seed Aryna Sabalenka taking on defending champion Coco Gauff of the United States and fellow American Jessica Pegula scheduled to play Jasmine Paolini, although the Italian has also reported feeling unwell.
