(September 5, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – No. 8 Amanda Anisimova rallied to beat four-time major winner and 23rd seed Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a little less than three hours to reach her first US Open final. She’ll play No. 1 player Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Saturday. She has now reached two straight major finals. She was a finalist at Wimbledon.
“I wasn’t sure I would make it past the finish line, and I tried to dig deep,” said the 24-year-old born in New Jersey. “It was a huge fight out there today.”
“It was really tough match. Most of the time I thought that it’s going to slip away from me, and I’m not going to make it into the final. At some points I was trying to accept that, as tough as that was.
“Yeah, and in the later moments of the second set I was trying to remind myself what was on the line and the opportunity I have.
“Yeah, I stepped onto the court, and I felt like I wasn’t playing my tennis because I was nervous, and I was letting the stress get to me a little bit, but then I tried to dig deep and find my game. I feel like throughout the match I was able to find it more and more, and yeah, the most important thing was that I kept fighting.
“Then, yeah, obviously after the match, I mean, I’m happy and I’m relieved. Yeah, I want to go recover to get ready for the final ,” she said smiling.”
“I just keep telling myself that I can do it, and I believe in myself. I keep saying that over and over again, not just in the match, but the whole day (smiling).
“But I really try and tell my brain, or I guess I feel like manifest it or visualize it, then it will happen. Yeah, I just kept going over and over with those, like, affirmations.
“Yeah, I just try and, like, stay upbeat and positive. Yeah, of course, today was a stressful match. There was kind of emotions all over the place.”
The 27-year-old Osaka reflected on the match in her news conference: “Honestly I don’t feel sad. It’s really weird. Well, it’s not weird, because I just feel like I did the best that I could. Honestly, it’s kind of inspiring for me, because it makes me just want to train and try to get better, and hopefully, yeah, just give it my very best shot again and see what happens.
“But I think I can’t be mad or upset at myself.”
“I went to that match knowing she’s one of the best returners in the world. Obviously I feel like I’m one of the best servers. It’s a little unfortunate, but also, I can’t really say I have played, like, many matches in the semis of a slam since I’ve been back. I would say she has a little bit under her belt more than me.
“Yeah, hopefully I can be in this position one more time and see if I learn something.”
“It’s the No. 1 player in the world, and she’s playing amazing tennis,” Anisimova said about her opponent in the final. “It’s going to be a really tough match and a battle. Yeah, I’m excited. Every single time we have played, it’s been great.”
“We’ve had very, very tough matches. A lot of them have actually been at Grand Slams, too, especially early on in my career. But I think the standout one was probably Wimbledon. It was really a seesaw match, which is almost always the case when I play her.
“Yeah, I think that was the most special one for me.”
More to follow…..
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