Aryna Sabalenka's Wimbledon dream crashes as Amanda Anisimova stuns World No. 1 to reach first Slam final

Amanda Anisimova became the first player born in the 21st century to reach the Wimbledon final

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka's bid for a Wimbledon haul was put to an end on Thursday after American Amanda Anisimova stunned the Belarusian to reach her maiden Grand Slam final. The No. 13 seed, who became the first player born in the 21st century to reach the Wimbledon final, won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the women singles semifinal on the Centre Court.

Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka uses a towel to cool down during a break in her women's singles semi-final tennis match against US player Amanda Anisimova on the eleventh day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships(AFP)

Sabalenka was aiming to become the first woman to reach four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Serena Williams a decade ago. Having missed Wimbledon last year due to a shoulder injury, she won the US Open in September 2024 for her third major, before finishing runner-up in Melbourne and Paris, losing to Madison Keys and Coco Gauff, respectively.

In London, the two-time Australian Open winner was the overwhelming favourite after the rest of the top-5 seeds were knocked out by the second day of the tournament. But on Thursday, as she stood just two wins away from a maiden Wimbledon haul, she was undone by calm and composed Anisimova, who stole the show with her crisp groundstrokes, particularly on the backhand side.

The 23-year-old was playing only her second major semifinal, having lost at the same stage at the French Open at the age of 17 in 2019. In May 2023, she took time off from the tour, saying she had been “ struggling with my mental health ” for nearly a year, which even saw her drop outside the top 400.

This was Anisimova's sixth career win against a Top 5 player, but the first against a reigning World No. 1. Incidentally, four of those wins came against Sabalenka, as she improved her head-to-head record to 6-3 against the three-time Grand Slam winner.

“This doesn’t feel real right now,” Anisimova said after ending the 2 hour, 36-minute contest with a forehand winner on her fourth match point. “I don’t know how I pulled it out.”

The 23-year-old will now await the result of the second women's singles semifinal, where No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek will take on Belinda Bencic.