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*Sabalenka 4-6 1-1 Anisimova At 15-all, Anisimova goes long with a backhand return, something of a missed opportunity. Another then goes into the net, and a forehand down the line secures the hold. Sabalenka needed that, but there remains a sense that she’s playing reactively and waiting for her opponent to err or drop her lveel, not the kind of match she’s used to playing.
Sabalenka 4-6 0-1 Anisimova* There’s a flinty badman eyedness about Anisimova here and I sense Sabalenka is becoming frustrated. She holds to 15 and if I was the underdog – which, for avoidance of doubt, I’m not – on return, I’d be looking to get balls into court and make the world no 1 play.
Sabalenka takes her bag and disappears. She’s got some thinking to do, because this match is going as Anisimova wants it to. She needs to get at Anisimova’s backhand and get her moving – a problem if her drops aren’t working, but sending her side to side will also be helpful.
Work to do for Aryna Sabalenka. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
*Sabalenka 4-6 Anisimova A second serve gets the treatment is deserves, carted cross for a winner, then another invites the same but this time the return is too close to Sabalenka, who makes 15-all when her opponent errs. But an overhit backhand takes us to 30-all and Anisimova to within two points of the set … so Saba sends her out wide with the serve, and though the return is deep, she hits what’s almost a half-volley, a backhand winner deep towards the opposite corner. But if you keep doing the right things you get your rewards, and another fine return sets up a putaway for deuce; again, Anisimova is within two points of the set. And, though a service winner gives Sabalenka advantage, a rally-ball into the backhand is quickly assaulted for a winner which restores deuce. Another service-winner then raises another game point but Anisimova again saves it, then hits yet another superb return, again well-handled by Sabalenka, who deflects it for a winner. Gosh, it’s hard to keep up with this: Anisimova saves game point, a backhand winner raises set point … but she frames a return and back to deuce we go, then again when Sabalenka makes advantage and sees her second serve brutalised once more. And have a look! A flat, shrieking backhand cross earns Anisimova advantage and a second set point, Sabalenka serves a fault and, perhaps spooked by the treatment meted out to her second delivery, she goes for the back of the box, misses, and the American leads by a set! She is totally comfortable attacking the power game that’s too much for almost everyone else, and Sabalenka needs to find another way!
We’re good to go again.
In the meantime, does the word “often” exists in American English, or is it always “oftentimes”?
Ah, there’s another situation in the crowd. This time, the pause is a proper tester for Sabalenka, who now has no margin for error.
Aryna Sabalenka comes to the rescue once again. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Sabalenka 4-5 Anisimova* At 30-all, Anisimova nets a forehand, but an ace out wide, the ball sneaking under Sabalenka’s racket, raises game point, and a gorgeous backhand winner, inside-out while backpeddling, to break the sideline, means her opponent must now serve to stay in the first set.
*Sabalenka 4-4 Anisimova So far, this looks like a meeting of equals, not two versions of similar with one noticeably better than the other. And look at that! Sabalenka serves a kicker out wide … and Anisimova retorts with a squash-shot drop-shot on the stretch for a clean winner! I’m not sure why Sabalenka wasn’t chasing in, but she redeems the situation with an ace that gives her 30-all, and from there she secures the hold. Increasingly, it looks like this set will come down to a point or two in a tiebreaker.
A view from the merciful shade at the back of the Centre Court. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Sabalenka 3-4 Anisimova* Anisimova is a milimetre long on the forehand, then a double means she’s down 0-30 and her riposte to a fine return, which lands close to the baseline, falls long. Three break points Sabalenka! But Anisimova saves the first two, then astonishes a backhand winner down the line and makes advantage with an ace. But a second double of the game follows, Sabalenka’s first decent drop of the game raises a fourth break point … only for her to net her return. But from there, Anisimova closes out for the hold, and she looks really composed out there.
“I just witnessed the biggest shock of the Wimbledon Wheelchair Tournament so far,” informs Chris Page. “No 3 seed, Li of China, just sent Diede de Groot, defending champion and six-time women’s singles champion, out of the tournament 7-6 6-4. Absolutely staggering. My money’s now on Japan’s Yui Kamiji for the title.
*Sabalenka 3-3 Anisimova And that time to stew really affected her. A big serve followed by a vicious forehand makes advantage, then another big serve is returned long, and we’re back level in the first.
After a little over five minutes, we’re good to resume, Sabalenka serving at deuce.
*Sabalenka 2-3 Anisimova Sabalenka goes long for 0-15, then a double ups the ante; she takes her time after sending down a third consecutive fault and her her delivery sits up and begs to be spanked; Anisimova will be disappointed she hits the net on return. But have a look! She cracks a backhand winer cross, raising two break points, and this feels like a potential inflection point, but a return into the net and a forehand that’s just long bring us to deuce, Anisimova slipping on to haunches in frustration as the missed opportunity. So to deuce we go, at which point there’s a pause as someone in the crowd has a situation; Sabalenka takes over some water, then both players sit under their respective umbrellas, left in limbo at a pressure moment. That’s better news for Anisimova, able to relax while her opponent stews.
Aryna Sabalenka gives water to a member of the crowd in distress due to the heat. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Sabalenka 2-3 Anisimova* We also mentioned earlier that the players might try to turn their opponent’s strength against her, and Anisimova goes long on the backhand for 15-all, then hits a terrible forehand wide from mid-court. At 15-30, Sabalenka has a sniff, but she frames a return to release pressure … then does likewise when sent a second consecutive body-serve. A return then falls long, and Anisimova will be happy with her start.
*Sabalenka 2-2 Anisimova We said just before that the second serve might be something for Anisimova to target, an we’ve just been told that no one – man or woman – hits them back as hard as she does. Of course, it’s no sooner said than Sabalenka nails an ace down the T for 40-0, and from there, she too secures a love hold. This is developing into an intense contest, both players bringing it.
“Wimbledon has a history of clashing with other sports,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “My best memory is from 2019 – we were returning from a road trip and my mobile was tuned to the OBO of the cricket World Cup and the car radio was tuned to the epic Federer – Djokovic . The former went to the superover and the latter to a tie break after 12-12 in the fifth set. We pulled over to a food court mall and there were two big screens with live telecast of both the matches. Surreal.”
I can’t remember the 2019 World Cup. What happened there?
Sabalenka 1-2 Anisimova* Sabalenka hasn’t found her range or her head yet, an attempted drop she oughtn’t to have played hitting the net for 30-0. From there, Anisimova serves out a love hold, and she’s started nicely.
Amanda Anisimova plays a forehand return as we go with serve in the opening set. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images
*Sabalenka 1-1 Anisimova Sabalenka smites a forehand winner down the line, then a return flies long; 30-0. But a poor second serve allows Anisimova to attack and incite the error – look out for that as a feature, because that facet of Sabalenka’s game is a relative weakness – then at 40-15, a terrible drop allows the American to make a cup of tea prior to swatting a backhand winner. But a big serve takes care of the next point, so we’re level at a game apiece.
Sabalenka 0-1 Anisimova* (denotes server) A confident start from Anisimova, who makes 40-15, but scurrying in to net after a squash-shot return dips, she flicks long, inviting minor pressure. No matter: Sabalenka nets a forehand, and the underdog is into the match.
Anisimova to serve; ready … play.
Our players are out on Centre. Anisimova actually leads the head-to-head 5-3, so won’t be feart, but Sabalenka has won three of the last last four. My feeling is that she controls her power slightly better, but she’s also more prone to collapse and likely to be the less chill of the two.
I did not, I must say, expect Bencic to bin Andreeva yesterday. Partly, Bencic is someone on whose performance I’ve never felt able to rely, but mainly, I felt like Andreeva was ready to win – as much as anything because, for the first time, those were the vibes she and her coach were exuding. Which isn’t to say I expected her to, but I did think it’d take Swiatek or Sabalenka to stop her.
Bencic, though, played the big points superbly, and if she can do that against Swiatek, she’s a chance.
As it did last year, Wimbledon clashes with the Lord’s Test – unhelpful for people working on the former with tickets for the latter. Pray for them. Both venues encapsulate some of the worst of this country – fussiness, coldness, formality – and some of the best – tastefulness, attention to detail, beauty. There are few venues, if any – in any sport – which envelop you in their history so absolutely, that feel an honour to attend, that so enrapture those lucky enough to play at them. I love both despite myself.
Two years ago, Swiatek men Bencic in the round of 16, winning in three, but both are better now than then; my sense, though, is that it’s the former who’s taken the bigger strides. On grass, she’s a very different player to the one she was then and as a consequence, her on-court persona is very different too.
Most likely, Anisimova will look to hit at Sabalenka’s backhand, while Sabelenka looks for her forehand. But sometimes, players seek to turn an opponent’s strength against them, and if either one finds their money shot malfunctioning – and these big weapons have little margin for error – I’d not be surprised to see it targeted.
On BBC, they’re saying Sabalenka needs this more than the other three semi-finalists, which I understand: she was so disappointed to lose the French Open final to Coco Gauff, and as world no 1, winning things is what she’s meant to do. But Anisimova and Bencic will see this as the chance of their lives and have not a clue when they’ll be this close to glory again, whereas Sabalenka will be there or thereabouts next year and for many more to come.
It’s really hot in London today, but these are some supremely fit athletes, so I doubt the temperature has much effect on the outcome.
Not a cumulonimbus to be seen over Sw19 today. Photograph: BBC
So who’s going to win today? It’s hard to look beyond Sabalenka and Swiatek; I’d actually be more inclined to back a shock if the matches were reversed, because the match-ups as they are seem to favour the favourites. Anisimova, I fear, does what Sabalenka does, just less well, while Swiatek might need hitting off the court, something Anisimova is better capable of than Bencic. But both are live dogs.
Also going on:
England v India: third men’s cricket Test, day one – live
Wotcha one and all and welcome to Wimbledon 2025 – day 11!
We’re at that point, aren’t we? On the one hand, we’re buzzing for what promises to be another belter of a go-around; on the other, we’re fearful that all of this is nearly over. So it goes.
Aryna Sabalenka is, to use the sportsperson’s parlance, not just a freak of nature but an absolute freak of nature. Her easy power is like nothing we’ve seen before, the joy she takes in unleashing it equal parts terrifying and affirming.
But neither she nor it are infallible. Sabalenka has reached the last three grand slam finals but lost the last two, while at Wimbledon she’s found ways to lose both semi-finals she’s made, from a set up. Amid all the pyrotechnics and giggles, there’s a fragility inherent within her style and character that is both humanising and undermining. She is fascinating, but she is beatable.
And in Amanda Anisimova, she finds one of few opponents with the same one-shot kill capacity, surging after a restorative mental-health break. Though it is hard to forget her flummoxed surrender in the final at Queen’s, we might put that down to Tatjana Maria’s unique style and, while Sabalenka represents a colossal step-up in class relative to her previous opponents, this will be her kind of match – and she’s ready for it.
Following them on Centre we’ve Belinda Bencic and Iga Swiatek – both on the road back, for very different reasons. Bencic began the year ranked 497 in the world after giving birth to her daughter Bella in April 2024, and has gradually worked her way to a peak. When it hits, her risky, aggressive game is nasty proposition for anyone, all the more so now it’s fired by the perspective of having a child and the thrill of unexpectedly reaching the last four. She is under no pressure whatsoever.
The same is not so of Iga Swiatek who, even in the moment of victory yesterday, noted the weight of expectation coming from home – all the more so given the poor year she’s endured. She lost to Jessica Pegula in New York and Madison Keys in Melbourne, had her French Open title ripped from her by Sabalenka, and has not won a tournament of any description since Roland Garros.
However there’ve been signs these last few weeks that her form is returning and her game – on the face of it a decent fit for a grass court – is finally at one with the surface. Her confidence is back and her swagger looks not far behind; two more wins and we might look at this fortnight as the start of an epoch.
Play: 1.30pm BST
