American qualifier Amanda Anisimova is making the most of her DC debut. The 2019 French Open semifinalist held off seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-4 in the first match Wednesday on Stadium Court, advancing to her first WTA quarterfinal in nearly two years (San Jose, August 2022).
A fixture inside the Top-50 for four years beginning in June 2019, Anisimova stepped away from the game in May 2023 citing burnout and concerns for her mental health.
Although she returned to competition in January and reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, a deep run has remained elusive for much of the season.
Her current stretch in Washington – four match wins in five days – has produced her most consistent results since Melbourne.
Anisimova’s serve was among the differences in her win over Pavlyuchenkova. The 22-year-old fired 17 aces and won 74.5% of her first-serve points. Anisimova will next face either No.2-seed Daria Kasatkina or American Caroline Dolehide in the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side Wednesday afternoon, eighth-seeded wild card Alejandro Davidovich Fokina rallied to beat American qualifier Mitchell Krueger 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 to reach the third round. Thanasi Kokkinakis beat No.14 Aleksander Vikuc 6-4, 7-6(6) in an-all Aussie battle on Grandstand.
Kokkinakis, who has not been broken across two matches this week, is competing for the first time since having to retire from his second-round Wimbledon match with a knee injury. His win Wednesday secured a Round-of-16 match against No.4 Sebastian Korda.
