Amanda Anisimova took a one-set deficit and flipped it on its ear on Monday in Riyadh.
The WTA Finals debutante won 11 of the final 13 games to eliminate compatriot Madison Keys (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) from contention and set up a winner-take-second battle with Iga Swiatek on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia.
“It pretty difficult to adjust to, especially when you lose the first match,” Anisimova said of her WTA Finals experience thus far. “It’s a new experience for me. It’s not easy but I’m trying to get used to it, put up a fight and do my best.”
Keys didn’t appear to be ailing during the match, but she declined to shake hands with Anisimova after the match, apparently due to not wanting to spread an illness.
Keys led 3-1 in the second set but was broken three times in succession as Anisimova reeled off seven straight games to take control.
A temporary reprieve, via service hold, came next, but Keys was broken again for 4-1 and Anisimova remained unbroken in the final set, saving a pair of break points as she served out the tussle in one hour and 45 minutes.
“I had to make a few adjustments for sure,” Anisimova said. “I was trying to not go for it as much as I was in the beginning.”
Anisimova was broken three times in the opening set, once in the second and did not drop serve in the decider as she improved to 14-3 in deciding sets this year, compared with 4-8 last season and 34-42 in all seasons prior to this year.
Anisimova’s victory over Keys in their first ever meeting also sent Elena Rybakina through as the Serena Williams Group winner. The former Wimbledon champion also reversed course on Monday, as she rebounded from a one-set deficit to defeat six-time major champion Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.
It was a day of stunning comebacks in Riyadh that sent shockwaves through the WTA’s season-ending championships.
Rybakina will contest a dead rubber with Keys on Wednesday, while Anisimova will meet Swiatek for the third time, the pair having split their two meetings at the majors this year.
Who can forget Swiatek’s 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Anisimova in the Wimbledon final? It could have sent Anisimova spiraling but instead it served as a source of inspiration. She would rebound and take out the Pole en route to her second consecutive Grand Slam final at the US Open.
“It will be a good challenge, and I’m looking forward to it,” Anisimova said.
Though she fell to Aryna Sabalenka in the final, the American showed her fortitude in this her best season on tour, which has seen her make her Top 10 and Top 5 debut while also claiming two 1000-level titles.
Swiatek will have to shake off a difficult defeat before she faces Anisimova. She was out of ideas against Rybakina as she saw her four-set winning streak against her rival go down the drain in a swirly two-set storm.
The winner of their rubber match will go through in second place in the Serena Williams Group, to face the eventual winner of the Steffi Graf Group.
