Anisimova stuns Sabalenka, reach first WTA 1000 semifinal

Amanda Anisimova continued her impressive week at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Saturday, defeating second seeded seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-2.

The 22-year-old American and former world no. 2 Anisimova who took a break from tennis in 2023 to focus on her mental health, earned her first Top 10 victory in almost two full years with the one hour and 27 minutes victory, her fifth win against Sabalenka in seven career meetings.

“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.”

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.

Elsewhere, defending champion Jessica Pegula continued her sterling stretch of success with a victory over fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 7-5 in 1 hour and 29 minutes to reach the final four.

She next meet one of the most in-form players of the summer in the semifinals: Diana Shnaider who came back to defeat last year’s finalist Liudmila Samsonova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to make her first career WTA 1000 quarterfinal and semifinal this week. It will be their first meeting.