By Clare Lovell
LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) – Madison Keys celebrated Independence Day on Saturday by upsetting sixth seed and last year’s runner-up Amanda Anisimova 3-6 6-2 6-3 in an all-American third-round battle on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
Anisimova fought back tears as she told reporters she could not find a way to fix the flaws in her game.
And there was no joy either for U.S. sisters Venus and Serena Williams who pulled out of their much-anticipated doubles match because of Serena’s knee injury.
Anisimova and Keys were two of eight American singles players working hard in southwest London on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, while their compatriots at home enjoyed a day off with festivities and fireworks.
The New Jersey-born Anisimova looked in fine form at the start of the match and produced a big serve that Keys could only dump into the net to win the first set in warm afternoon sunshine on Centre Court.
But that serving weapon, which earned her 20 aces in the last round to beat another American, Sofia Kenin, failed to fire in the second set on Saturday. She had trouble with the toss and her forehand went awry as she suffered breaks in the second and eighth games.
“It wasn’t enjoyable to play out there today with my tennis being like that. It was really, really tough,” Anisimova said.
CONFIDENCE AND CONSISTENCY
Keys, who won the Eastbourne warm-up tournament on grass last month, grew in confidence and consistency.
The 26th seed, last year’s Australian Open champion, won 76% of points on her first serve and produced 23 unforced errors to the 24-year-old Anisimova’s 42.
It was the first time Keys, 31, had played on Centre Court at Wimbledon, an experience she described as “cool” but she has reached the second week of Grand Slams an impressive 25 times in her career.
“I think the reality is also, having been in this position before, it only gets harder now. It’s like this is kind of the first hurdle. Then it seems like every round from now is like its own mini tournament,” Keys said.
Men’s sixth seed Taylor Fritz overcame a slow start to end the challenge of Italian Lorenzo Sonego 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(5) to reach the second week for the fourth time in the last five editions of the grasscourt major.
Ashlyn Krueger, ranked a lowly 102 in the world, moved into the last 16 with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Daria Snigur.
Two other Americans were knocked out in early matches on Saturday. Emma Navarro, the 23rd seed, was beaten 6-2 4-6 6-1 by fast-improving 12th seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
In the men’s draw, 23-year-old Zachary Svajda, on his Wimbledon debut, managed to take a set off fifth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur before bowing out 6-2 5-7 6-2 6-4.
The Williams sisters withdrew from their match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina because of a knee injury suffered by Serena during her singles defeat by Australian Maya Joint on Tuesday.
Serena said in an Instagram post that she was “heartbroken to have to withdraw”.
The sisters, now aged 46 and 44, last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open. Their haul of 14 women’s doubles titles includes six won at the All England Club.
(Reporting by Clare Lovell, editing by Pritha Sarkar, Toby Chopra and Clare Fallon)
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