LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - A showdown between two American 20-somethings born to Russian immigrants turned into an almighty scrap at Wimbledon as Amanda Anisimova displayed her powers of resilience to subdue Sofia Kenin 6-2 4-6 7-6(10-3) in the second round on Thursday.
A year after becoming the first player in more than a century to lose a Wimbledon final 6-0 6-0, the sixth seed looked like she was heading for another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of an opponent she had been expected to beat.
With Kenin now ranked 105th in the world and a shadow of the player who triumphed at the Australian Open in 2020, Anisimova resembled a tortured soul as she struggled to stop the barrage of unforced errors that kept flying off her racket.
When she surrendered her serve en route to falling 3-1 behind in the deciding set, Anisimova resorted to the only thing that could get her out of the rut - yelling out her frustrations.
That release allowed her to get her A-game back on track and after levelling for 3-3, she was once again laser focused and stormed through the tiebreak to seal victory when Kenin netted a service return.
"Some moments were really awful. I'm just happy to be through to the next round," said Anisimova, whose title dreams were almost dashed by the 46 unforced errors she produced during the two-hour duel.
The 20 aces she fired down did, however, go a considerable way towards limiting the damage done by her wayward shots.
"I never thought I'd say this but thank you to my serve. I'm not a good server at all but after today, I can say that I am," she added smiling.
"I'm really happy with my performance, especially with the end. Shout out to Sofia, she's such a good opponent, a real fighter.
"I was down and told myself to keep fighting. I really tried to bring myself back to the present moment. I try to remind myself - have fun, you're playing at Wimbledon. These are the matches I train for, the tough ones, the fun ones."
She will next run into another American, 26th seed Madison Keys, for a place in the fourth round.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Clare Fallon)
