Rewatching Wimbledon nightmare helped Amanda Anisimova stun Iga Swiatek at US Open

Dubai: Amanda Anisimova experienced the shock of her career two months ago when she was dismantled by Iga Swiatek in a one-sided Wimbledon final.

But instead of letting that defeat define her, the American studied it relentlessly. She watched the match over and over, learning from every mistake. On Tuesday, those lessons paid off as Anisimova avenged her loss, stunning the six-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 6-3 in the US Open quarter-finals.

“Last night — nobody told me to — but I watched it back,” Anisimova admitted of the painful Wimbledon final. “I wanted to see what I could avoid or what went wrong. Then I had to watch some good highlights to clear my head. But it was important to know what happened before today’s match.”

The eighth seed, who will now face two-time US Open winner Naomi Osaka in Thursday’s semi-finals, said the experience has reshaped her mindset. “What I’ve learned in this tournament is not to go into matches with fear,” she said. “Today I stepped on court without an ounce of it.”

Swiatek had entered the tournament as the bookmakers’ favourite, riding high after her maiden Wimbledon triumph and a title run at the Cincinnati Open. She struck first in the quarter-final, breaking Anisimova in the opening game, but the American responded immediately and snatched the first set when Swiatek sent a forehand long.

The second set followed a similar pattern. Swiatek broke early, only for Anisimova to rally back to 2-2. A costly double fault left Swiatek trailing 3-5, and though she saved two match points, a net cord in Anisimova’s favour sealed victory for the 24-year-old.

Swiatek pointed to her faltering serve as the key factor in defeat, with just a 50% first-serve success rate and only 10 of 30 points won on her second serve.

“I couldn’t win today playing like that, serving like that, and with Amanda being so aggressive on the returns,” she said. “It was totally different from Wimbledon. She moved better, played better — everything was different.”