Former World No.21 Amanda Anisimova's resurgent week at the National Bank Open in Toronto continued Saturday with a 6-4, 6-2 upset of No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka.
The 22-year-old American, who took a sabbatical from tennis in 2023 to prioritize her mental health, earned her first Top 10 victory in nearly two full years with the 1-hour and 27-minute triumph -- her fifth win against Sabalenka in seven career meetings. She had lost the last two, including earlier this year at the Australian Open on Sabalenka's road to her second major title.
Toronto: Scores | Draws | Order of Play
"She's an amazing player, so it's always really tough playing against her. I played her earlier this year at the Australian Open when she was on fire ... but I went in with a little bit of a different game plan, and I was really happy with how I was able to execute that today," Anisimova said afterwards.
"I've had a lot of matches in the last couple of weeks, and it's honestly been so nice just being able to play day after day ... I'm just really happy to be out here."
While the win for Anisimova shouldn't come as a shock, the manner in which she did it proved to be: She saved all five break points she faced in the first set, and won the last five games of the second set.
An American is guaranteed to reach the final in Canada for the second year in a row, as Anisimova will face No.8 seed Emma Navarro for a spot in the final. In Saturday's first quarterfinal, Navarro stopped the run of lucky loser Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-6(5) to also reach a WTA 1000 semifinal for the first time.
"She's a player who is definitely on fire right now, she's playing some great tennis," Anisimova said of Navarro. "I'm sure it will be a tough match tomorrow.
"I'm going to talk a little bit with my coach about it, because it's been awhile since I've played her, so I'm going to stick to the basics that I've been doing, and just focusing on myself and, yeah, I'm just looking forward to it."
