It was a stop-start first set on Centre Court, but when it settled, Aryna Sabalenka will have been somewhat startled to be down 6-4. During two breaks in play, there she was to help two fans who had fainted, providing water and support. Perhaps she needed a bit of support in return.
The world No 1 is no stranger to the semi-finals of Wimbledon, and she is no stranger to Amanda Anisimova. This was Sabalenka’s third appearance at this stage in SW19, and her eighth clash with the American across the net. Regardless of Wednesday’s result, she was always going to leave with losing records in both cases: she was already 0-2 in the All England Club semi-finals, and 3-5 against Anisimova. Yet neither of those losing records would have bothered her had they read 1-2 and 4-5, courtesy of a victory that never came on this day.
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The first set was not the most fluid, and not just because of those medically-induced pauses in play – for seven minutes at 2-3, and for five minutes at 4-5. In general, the points were short as a result of the power on display from both players; the 27-year-old Belarusian and the 23-year-old 13th seed could only resist each other’s brutality for so many shots before wilting, while fans did their best not to wilt in the sun.
But when the second fan fainted at 4-5, in the same stand as the first, perhaps the disruption to the action was more detrimental to Sabalenka than Anisimova. The former was forced to serve to stay in the opener and, despite saving a set point, she ultimately buckled in a near-10-minute game.
Sabalenka will have been even more frustrated given she failed to convert two break points at 3-3, letting the debutant Wimbledon semi-finalist off the hook. Anisimova had outstruck Sabalenka in terms of winners, yet one of those break points was lost due to the Belarusian’s own error, and so was the set point – a missed smash and a double fault proving poor errors by Sabalenka.
Still, her frustration fueled her in the second set. She almost started play early at 1-2, or at least would not tolerate starting late due to meandering fans in the stands. When she moved to 30-15 at 2-3, she roared in defiance, and she did the same when she aced to hold serve.
There was more of a screech from Anisimova when the American misfired on her forehand in the next game, and the exact same error handed Sabalenka break point in the next exchange. Just as Sabalenka had double faulted to give Anisimova the first set, the latter double faulted to provide the Belarusian with a much-needed break.
It looked as though Sabalenka might waste the advantage when she fell to 0-30, but she showed steely resolve to hold from there, moving to within a game of levelling the match. Yet she would be forced to serve it out, after Anisimova saved four set points in the next game. Among the duels at 5-3, after almost two sets of largely one-dimensional tennis, was the most dynamic rally of the match. It ended with an acutely-angled backhand pass from Sabalenka, who found the line, though a few points later, a bruising backhand from Anisimova put paid to the Belarusian’s hopes of breaking serve.
No matter, for the world No 1, who ground out a service hold in the next game, taking the semi-final to a decider.
A voluntary break ensued for both players, who headed to the bathroom, and this pause benefited Sabalenka, who broke to love upon their return to the grass.
Yet in another twist, Anisimova broke back immediately. And when she took Sabalenka to deuce in the latter’s next service game, she screeched again – this time out of some positive emotion, which surely was only augmented when she made it back-to-back breaks.
Across the net, Sabalenka cut a desperate figure, one with no answers.
Somehow, however, she produced another fine backhand pass, but when Anisimova painted the line with one of the shots of the match, then found two forehand winners to leave Sabalenka stranded, a 4-1 scoreline marked the middle of the end.
When Sabalenka thought one of her passes had licked the outside of the chalk in the next game, only to see it ruled marginally wide, she could only laugh and shake her head as her clenched, pumped fist relaxed in exasperation.
Although she held serve, Anisimova followed suit with a little help from the net cord on game point – a point she celebrated without apologising, it seemed. “Why didn’t you say sorry?” Sabalenka appeared to ask, after staring down the American, who had raised her hands to the heavens and smiled.
And Sabalenka may well feel sorry for herself.
While she managed to break back, Anisimova responded in kind for the biggest win of her career. There was a gracious hug at the net, before Sabalenka trudged off court to immense applause. An at-times divisive figure in tennis, she endeared herself to the Wimbledon faithful today. Yet the three-time grand-slam winner remains a semi-finalist on these grounds and little more, at least for another year.
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