From Doha to Riyadh, Anisimova achieved five major career breakthroughs in the 2025 season.

When mentioning American female tennis players, many fans first think of Gauff, and some think of Pegula. These two Americans have indeed performed well in both tour events and Grand Slams. Yet, in the 2025 season, there was another American female player who also delivered remarkable performances. Not only that, she achieved several new career breakthroughs in 2025. So, who is this American female tennis player? What breakthroughs did she accomplish in 2025? Let this article take you through her journey.

This American female tennis player is Anisimova. At the start of the 2025 season, her world ranking was outside the top 35. In early February, Anisimova advanced by defeating two-time Grand Slam champion Azarenka from Belarus in straight sets in the first round of the WTA1000 Doha Open.

Following that, she consecutively defeated Spain’s Badosa, Canada’s Fernandez, Ukraine’s Kostyuk, Russia’s Aleksandrova, and Latvia’s Ostapenko, winning her first WTA1000 title in her career. This marked Anisimova’s first major breakthrough in the 2025 season. Thanks to this title, she broke into the world’s top 20 for the first time.

For a long period afterward, Anisimova struggled with inconsistent results and even experienced a losing streak. In early June, seeded eighth at the WTA500 London Open, she narrowly overcame Britain’s Perry in the first round and then comfortably defeated wildcard player Qatar’s Katar in the second round to advance.

In the quarterfinals, Anisimova convincingly beat fellow American Navarro, who had previously reached a Grand Slam semifinal, securing her spot in the semifinals. There, she battled China’s Zheng Qinwen in three sets to win and reach her first-ever grass-court tour final. Although she was swept by German qualifier Maria in the final, this still represented her second career breakthrough of the 2025 season.

Perhaps reaching her first grass-court tour final boosted Anisimova’s confidence. At the end of June at Wimbledon, she surged through the draw, defeating Kazakhstan’s Putintseva, Mexico’s Zarazua, Hungary’s Jani, Czech Republic’s Noskova, Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova, and Belarus’s Sabalenka, reaching her first Grand Slam final. This was Anisimova’s third major career breakthrough in the 2025 season.

Unfortunately, in the final, she was defeated without winning a game by Poland’s Swiatek, a three-time French Open champion, finishing as the runner-up. Nevertheless, by reaching the Grand Slam final, Anisimova entered the world’s top 10 for the first time.

At the end of August, Anisimova appeared at the US Open as the eighth seed. Maintaining the momentum from Wimbledon, she powerfully defeated Australia’s Barty and Joyce, Romania’s Cristian, Brazil’s Maia, Poland’s Swiatek, and Japan’s Osaka, reaching her second Grand Slam final in her career. This marked her fourth career breakthrough in 2025. However, despite performing better than at Wimbledon, she lost the final to world No.1 Sabalenka from Belarus, once again finishing as a Grand Slam runner-up with regret.

This week, Anisimova participated in the year-end championships for the first time in her career. In the group stage, she lost 0-2 to Rybakina in her opening match but bounced back to win 2-1 against Keys in the second match.

In the early hours today, in the final group match against Poland’s Swiatek, who has won six Grand Slam titles, Anisimova lost the first set in a tiebreak but came back to win the next two sets, securing her place in the semifinals of the year-end championships for the first time. This was her fifth career breakthrough in the 2025 season. That’s the tennis story for today; more to come tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Yixin Jushi)