Defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka’s stay in Melbourne this year was short, thanks to a rising American star.
Amanda Anisimova, stunned the four-time grand slam winner Friday, saving two match points on the way to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) win to reach the fourth round.
She rose through the junior ranks, reaching as high as No. 2 in the world as a 14-year-old in 2016.
Anisimova reached the second round of US Open qualifying that year and made her WTA main draw debut at the Miami Open in the spring of 2017.
She pulled out of the 2019 US Open after her father and coach, Konstantin, died of a reported heart attack in mid-August.
Though she played well to reach the semifinals in Auckland in January 2020 before falling to Serena Williams
Amanda Anisimova ethnicity: What is Amanda Anisimova nationality?
Anisimova was born in Freehold, N.J., to parents who had recently emigrated from Russia.
But the family moved to the Miami area when she was 3 so Amanda and her older sister Maria could concentrate on tennis.