Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, July 2, 2026
Photo credit: Visionhaus/Getty
Wimbledon—Wimbledon—”Welcome to the Wok,” the smiling security said as we walked to our seats on sun-baked No. 2 Court.
Sofia Kenin was cooking up an upset, building a 3-1 final-set lead over a frustrated Amanda Anisimova.
Then the Wimbledon finalist turned up the heat on serve and blazed through five of the last six points fending off Kenin in a dramatic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3) victory to reach the Wimbledon third round for the third time in five appearances.
The victory vaults Anisimova into an all-American showdown vs. fellow power player Madison Keys in a match that may well put her forehand to the test again. As Keys well knows, Anisimova will try to torch her two-hander crosscourt to Keys’ backhand wing that sometimes lacks the extreme angle her fellow American can produce.
“Obviously Amanda, having made the finals here last year, she’s one of the best ball strikers in the game
probably ever,” Keys said. “[Anisimova] has one of the greatest backhands I think I’ve ever seen.”
Earlier, Keys crushed British wild card Katie Swan, 6-1, 6-4, in 89 minutes on Centre Court. In their lone prior meeting, Anisimova defeated Keys, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the WTA Finals last September.
A beaming Anisimova made a heart gesture to thank supportive No. 2 Court fans after this comeback conquest of Kenin then credited her saving shot.
“Thank you to my serve today,” a smiling and relieved Anisimova said immediately afterward.
Indeed, Anisimova’s serve saved her from her earliest Wimbledon exit since a 2021 opening-round loss to Magda Linette.
Anisimova cracked nine of her 20 aces in the final set, including three aces in the tiebreaker.
The sixth-seeded Anisimova served 68 percent and belted 42 winners—38 more than Kenin.
On a day in which her forehand was downright abysmal at times, the serve, some timely backhand strikes and a more positive attitude in the tiebreaker helped Anisimova salvage this comeback.
Flashbacks to her 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(3) French Open third-round loss to world No. 92 Diane Parry last month also served as major motivation for Anisimova.
“I told myself to just keep fighting,” Anisimova said.
For much of a rollercoaster ride of a match, Anisimova was fighting both Kenin and herself—and often coming up second in both battles. Anisimova pelted herself with her Wilson Blade, barked at her box and sometimes struggled to clear the net with her flat forehand.
Credit Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, for pushing Anisimova to the very edge. Exhorted on by four young guys wearing New York Knicks jerseys about five rows from the court, Kenin showed flashes of the form that made her a major champion.
Kenin played cleaner combinations for stretches, committed 26 fewer unforced errors than the US Open finalist and had two break points chances to go up 4-1 in the decider.
Anisimova muted the threat bangina a serve winner down the T to erase the first break point before blasting an ace to save the second break point. That barrage helped Anisimova hold for 2-3 and shifted momentum.
In the next game, Anisimova drilled the line with her favored backhand then fired a forehand drive volley to break back and level after six games.
Despite the high sun, Anisimova was not wearing a visor or baseball cap (or even a sweat band on her racquet hand), but that didn’t deter her from finding serve rhythm when she needed it most.
The sixth seed won eight of nine serve points holding for 6-5 before Kenin held under pressure to force the 10-point match tiebreaker.
Ripping an ace down the middle, Anisimova went up 3-1. Anisimova rocketed successive aces for 7-2 and sealed a two-hour, two-minute battle with a pair of serve winners.
The 24-year-old Anisimova improved to 13-4 lifetime at SW19 and joins fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula, seventh-seeded Coco Gauff, 16th-seeded Iva Jovic, 23rd-seeded Emma Navarro, the 26th-seeded Keys and qualifiers Claire Liu and Ashlyn Krueger as one of eight American women into the third round with Caty McNally facing No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the day’s final Centre Court match.