Teen new world star in making
The crowd at the ASB Classic in Auckland may have witnessed one of the next great stars of tennis yesterday.
Seventeen-year-old American Amanda Anisimova defeated Czech veteran and No 5 seed Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-3 on a blustery Centre Court.
Anisimova is the youngest player in the top 100, ranked 96 in the world, and was given a wildcard to the Classic by tournament director Karl Budge.
The world No 33 from the Czech Republic battled hard in this second round match, as she always does, but there was that class about Animisova that showed she could be something special.
She looked composed on the court and as well as being able to hit for power, she uses the angles well, to open up the court and then rip a winner with her next shot.
Strycova is too good a player for Anisimova to thrash at this stage of her career, but this was an impressive performance from her and a match she always looked line winning.
The Classic has had a number of players in recent years who’ve gone on to great things, like winning grand slams, including Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko. Come next year Anisimova could be added to that list.
In today’s quarterfinal, Anisimova will play Viktoria Kuzmova from Slovakia who yesterday beat fellow 20-year-old Sofia Kenin, of the United States, 7-5 5-7 6-3.
The match lasted just over 21⁄4 hours, with the standout statistic from it being Kuzmova serving 20 aces, compared to just three from Kenin.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Julia Goerges criticised the chair umpire and the tournament referee during her win at the ASB Classic on Wednesday night.
The tournament’s defending champion and second seed defeated compatriot Mona Barthel 6-4 6-4 in a match that finished late into the evening.
It was another solid win for the world No 14, but a controversial moment occurred when Goerges was up 4-3 in the second set.
Goerges got into an argument with the chair umpire when a ball coming towards her was mistakenly called out.
Goerges said she stopped running when she heard the call, but still swung her racket and the ball went into the net.
The umpire overruled the incorrect call from the line judge and gave the point to Barthel, but Goerges said the point should be replayed because she heard the call and stopped running.
When she didn’t get her way Goerges firstly said to the umpire that she was doing a bad job.
Tournament referee David Smith then appeared on court and Goerges asked him to overrule the call, but he said he had to go with the chair umpire’s decision, which Goerges didn’t appreciate.
‘‘What are you here for, to walk me on to the court? I can do that for myself,’’ Goerges said to Smith. Goerges will play Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals today.