U.S. teen rolls past Halep
Anisimova tops defending champ
PARIS — Ranked 51st, American Amanda Anisimova, 17, defeated 2018 winner Simona Halep Thursday in the French Open quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-4, to make her first Grand Slam semifinal.
“Getting the opportunity to play against [Halep], that’s amazing,” Anisimova said. “But how it ended is even crazier to me.”
“Crazy” has ruled an Open in which the highest seed left is No. 8 Ash Barty of Australia, who will play Anisimova. Barty beat No. 14 Madison Keys of the United States. No. 26 Johanna Konta of Britain will face Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 19. None have played in a major final.
In the men’s semifinals: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic vs. Dominic Thiem. It’s the first time the top four men’s seeds are the final four at a major tournament since the 2013 Australian Open.
Djokovic’s Grand Slam win streak hit 26 matches as he eliminated Alexander Zverev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Thiem beat 10th-seeded Karen Khachanov, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Anisimova is the youngest American woman in the Paris semis since Jennifer Capriati in 1990 at age 14. Facing a former No. 1 in Roland Garros’ largest arena, Anisimova kept cool.
“She showed that she’s able to do good things and big things,” said Halep, who acknowledged the stress of trying to defend a title.
Yet to drop a set in five matches, Anisimova saved six break points on Halep, who had won 16 return games in a row coming in.
Anisimova went up a set and 3-0 in the second, but Halep rallied to 4-4. In the next game, Anisimova made an error and chewed her nail. But she calmed down, and a few miscues by Halep helped Anisimova to a win.
“I’m really happy with my performance,” she said, “because this is one of the best matches I’ve ever played.”
That list isn’t long. In her fourth major, Anisimova has a shot at the final.