Google News 15-year-old Amanda Anisimova wins the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge and writes history
by JOVICA ILIC | VIEW 19634
This year's USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge contained 4 back-to-back ITF events on Har-Tru clay, in Indian Harbour Beach, Dothan, Charlottesville, and Charleston, with the place in the main draw of the upcoming Roland Garros up for grab.
After today's defeat of Victoria Duval in Charleston, 15-year-old Amanda Anisimova can start to celebrate, as she wins the Challenge and the opportunity to play on the big stage at such a young age, 12 months after she reached the junior final in Paris!
Before the final week, Amanda had 118 points, losing in the finals of the Indian Harbour Beach and Dothan, and despite she missed the latter two events of the series these results were enough to secure her the trip to Paris.Victoria Duval and Caroline Dolehide, standing 3rd and 4th in the rankings prior to Charleston, were the only players who could pass Amanda and spoil her party, but only if one of these girls went all the way to win the title.
Dolehide was beaten yesterday and Duval retired today against Ianchuk, which means that super talented teen from Freehold, New Jersey, will get a chance to return to Paris and show what she is made off. After Destanee Aiava made a Grand Slam debut in Melbourne as the first player born in 2000 to do so, Amanda will go even further, becoming the first player born in 2001 who played a main draw Grand Slam match.
Amanda is a former world number 2 in juniors (currently stands in 5th, winning the only event she played in 2017) and she is by far the best player born in 2001 on the WTA rankings list, and the only inside the Top 300, with Anastasia Potapova as her closest rival in 399th.
The first professional tournament for Anisimova came in Curitiba at the end of February on clay and she reached the final, losing exactly to Potapova in a very close match. She got a chance to play in Miami as well, losing in the first round to Taylor Townsend in 3 sets, and then she made these two great results in Indian Harbour Beach and Dothan, advancing to back-to-back finals to conquer the Wild Card Challenge and it will be very interesting how she will perform in Paris.
One thing is sure, despite her age and lack of experience, Amanda can pose a threat to many players in the field and we will see if she's going to have a good draw. ALSO READ: Who are the biggest movers on the ATP rankings list in the first 4 months of 2017?
