How Amanda Anisimova helped keep Serena Williams' WTA record intact by beating Aryna Sabalenka in Wimbledon 2025 SF

Amanda Anisimova booked her place in a maiden Grand Slam final after defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in an epic semifinal clash at the 2025 Wimbledon. With this win, the American player has potentially stopped the Belarusian player from overhauling Serena Williams' record points tally on the WTA ranking charts.

The semifinal match started on an extremely high note, with players holding their serves despite saving break points in the first set. However, in a long game, Anisimova broke Sabalenka's serve to win the first set 6-4. Like the champion she is, the Belarusian responded in the second set, breaking the American's serve in the seventh game and winning the second set 6-4.

Sabalenka broke in the very first game of the third set, and things looked dire for Anisimova. However, the 13th seed won four games in a row to take a decisive 4-1 lead. However, while serving for the match at 5-3, the American player faltered, as the World No. 1 broke back while saving a match point. However, Anisimova regrouped herself and broke Sabalenka's serve in the next return game, winning the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

With this loss, Sabalenka's points tally remains at 12,420 points on the WTA charts. Had the Belarusian won the grass-court Major, her points tally would have gone to 13,640 points, which would surpass the record tally of 13,615 set by Serena Williams back in 2013.

The World No. 1 has almost 3000 points to defend from her Cincinnati Open and US Open titles last year, and therefore, the chances of increasing her points tally are slim.

Amanda Anisimova is set to face Iga Swiatek at the Wimbledon 2025 final

Amanda Anisimova will contest her maiden Grand Slam final against former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who will be in her maiden Wimbledon final. These two players have not played each other on previous occasions on the senior WTA Tour but did play in their junior days.

It has been a tremendous journey for Amanda Anisimova since last year, when she lost in the qualifying rounds at the Championships. This year around, she entered the main draw as the 13th seed. She won against the likes of Yulia Putintseva, Renata Zarazua, Dalma Galfi, Linda Noskova, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before winning against Sabalenka in the semifinal.

Amanda Anisimova is looking to become the third American woman to win a Major this year, after the success of Madison Keys and Coco Gauff at the Australian Open and the French Open, respectively. She is already at a career-high ranking of No. 7 on the live rankings, and winning the title would take her to No. 5.

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua