Anisimova Returns To Tennis After Eight Months With Impressive Win In Auckland

Amanda Anisimova has been away from the WTA Tour for over eight months, but she returned at the 2024 ASB Classic in Auckland, and she returned in style.

In May 2023, the American player announced that she would be taking a mental health break. However, by the end of the year, she started signing up for tournaments for the new season, and now she's back.

Anisimova received a wild card for the 2024 ASB Classic, and in the first round of the tournament, she took on an experienced opponent, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia.

The Russian is a former world no. 11 and a Grand Slam finalist, but in this match, she couldn't match her opponent's qualities, as Anisimova showed why she was regarded as one of the biggest talents of her generation.

The 22-year-old started the match with a break of serve, but that soon didn't mean a lot as both players broke each other's serve in five consecutive games soon after that, and Pavlyuchenkova led 5-4 and 30-15 at one point, being only two points away from winning the first set.

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But Anisimova then took matters into her own hands, and she won three following games to win the first set 7-5 and start her comeback journey in the best possible way.

She followed up on the first-set success with a great start into the second set, and at 5-1 and 30-30, she was, similarly to her opponent in the first set, only two points away from winning the set.

Yet, the Russian then won 10 of the following 12 points and decreased the deficit to 5-4, as Anisimova got a second set to serve for the set. But this time around, the American finished the set off.

She won the match 7-5, 6-4 to set up a second-round match with the fifth-seeded Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic.

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