American women’s tennis star Amanda Anisimova continued her breakout season with another important victory on Sunday. The third-seeded Anisimova met the 26-seeded Linda Noskova in the women’s China Open final.
Anisimova defeated Noskova in three sets: 6-0, 2-6, 6-2. Anisimova served up a bagel in the first set, which lasted less than half an hour.
Noskova hung tough in the second set, while Anisimova grew visibly frustrated with her play. Eventually, Anisimova recovered and won the decider with ease, ending the match in one hour and 46 minutes.
The hard-hitting Anisimova tallied six aces and three double faults, landing 76% of her first serves. Noskova hit three aces and six double faults, landing 66% of first serves. Anisimova broke Noskova in 5/8 opportunities, while Noskova returned the favor in just 2/6 attempts.
“What a two weeks it’s been,” a relieved Anisimova said during her on-court interview. “We’ve had a lot of challenges, and despite that, we also have so much fun … It’s crazy we made it this far, and to get the win today has made it really special. Thank you for sharing that with me.”
Anisimova congratulated Noskova on an amazing two weeks in Beijing. Noskova reciprocated the respect before joking, “You’ve been playing amazing throughout this whole year. You’ve been more than annoying to all of us.”
Anisimova improves to 45-16, picking up her second title (both Masters 1000 events) of the season. She will stay put as the World No.4 when the updated WTA Rankings come out tomorrow. However, Anisimova has surpassed Coco Gauff as the No.3 in the Race to the WTA Finals, which counts ranking points won in 2025.
Anisimova easily defeated Gauff in the China Open semifinals. After the match, Gauff heaped praise upon Anisimova and likened her to the top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka.
So far, five players have qualified for the WTA Finals in Riyadh: Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Anisimova, Gauff, and Madison Keys. The WTA Finals will take place from November 1-8, 2025.
Luckily for all of the sport’s top players, there is still a lot of tennis left to be played in the remainder of this month. The Wuhan Open, Japan Open, Ningbo Open, and Pan Pacific Open are just some of the tournaments in the Asian Swing that could reshape the year-end race.
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