Jul 10, 2025; Wimbledon, United Kingdom; Amanda Anisimova of the United States celebrates winning her match against Aryna Sabalenka on day 11 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

tennis

Amanda Anisimova Makes American History By Toppling World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Wimbledon 2025 Semifinal

The American is 12-2 on grass this season.

Jul 10, 2025; Wimbledon, United Kingdom; Amanda Anisimova of the United States celebrates winning her match against Aryna Sabalenka on day 11 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

13th seed Amanda Anisimova shook off all the talk about her relatively easy draw by knocking out World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to enter her first Wimbledon final in 2025. The American struck backhands as clean as a whistle en route to a powerful statement on Thursday. Despite struggling in the middle, the 23-year-old bounced back to win 6-4 4-6 6-4. She awaits the winner of Iga Swiatek vs Belinda Bencic in the Ladies’ Singles final.

Anisimova, who peaked extremely early in her career, is already a semifinal and finalist at the Grand Slam level now. While has been pushed to the deciding set twice previously at the Championships this year, Sabalenka tested her like nobody else did. Yet, the World No. 12 shattered records on a sunny afternoon on Centre Court in London.

"The moment of this young woman's life" 👏

Amanda Anisimova completes an extraordinary semi-final to defeat No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and book her spot in her first ever #Wimbledon final 💥

Take. A. Bow. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/WexH4VL2k2
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2025

Anisimova Edges Out Sabalenka in Topsy-Turvy Semifinal

The two women kicked off the first semifinal by trading baseline blows. There was a slight tactical mishap from Sabalenka, who was hitting far too many shots to the American’s superior backhand wing. Anisimova was overpowering the 27-year-old from the back of the court. She also attacked the second serve of Sabalenka to take the opener.

In the second set, the Belarusian roared back as all great champions do. She produced more depth on her second serve, and hit more to Anisimova’s forehand. There was a period of tense grunts and exchanges between the players, which resulted in the top seed getting fired up and powering her way through the second set.

Sabalenka had successfully slowed down the encounter, and had the momentum in her favour at the beginning of Set-3. But after breaking early, the three-time major champion failed to capitalise. She repeated the error of hitting a very high percentage of shots to Anisimova’s backhand – which was a recipe for disaster. Although she managed to save three match points from being 2-5 down, the Belarusian resistance ultimately cracked.

Anisimova Shatters Records to Reach First Wimbledon Final

After a warm embrace at the net, the magnitude of the moment hit Anisimova. With a beaming smile, the realisation that she had just entered the final at the holy grail of tennis beckoned upon the American. “To be honest, if you told me I would be in the final of Wimbledon, I would not believe you,” Anisimova said in her post-match interview. “So many people dream of competing on this incredible court. To be in the final is indescribable.”

Before this year, the last time a WTA No. 1 lost to three different Americans in a major was 1982 🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/XtgaBbFSB3
— ESPN (@espn) July 10, 2025

Anisimova also extended her commiserations to the “inspiring” World No. 1, who lost in the semifinal of Wimbledon for the third time. A former semifinalist at Roland Garros, Anisimova is now the first American to reach the summit clash at SW19 since Serena Williams in 2019. She is just the second woman in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final after losing in qualifying the previous year, and just the third WTA player to beat Sabalenka on all three surfaces.

(Image Credits: Susan Mullane, Imagn Images)

Amanda Anisimova

Aryna Sabalenka

Belinda Bencic

Iga Swiatek

Tennis

Wimbledon

Wimbledon 2025

WTA

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.