Anisimova has never been a confrontational player, but when she won the next point, she reacted with a rare fist-pump. Now the question was whether she could ride her newly contentious energy to a win.
She started with a good hold from 15-30 down, to make it 4-2. But she couldn’t break from 15-30 up on Andreeva’s next service game. That left her serving at 4-3, 15-15.
For most of the match, Anisimova had been reluctant to follow her penetrating ground strokes forward, instead taking Andreeva’s towering lobs off the bounce. This time, she stepped in and closed with a confident swing-volley winner. Two minutes later, she was up 5-3. Three minutes after that, she had snapped Andreeva’s streak with a satisfying 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3 win.
“We’re both big hitters, I knew we would go and have a great match out here,” said Anisimova, who was playing in Miami’s main stadium for the first time. “She has a lot of variety in her game, definitely a tricky opponent.”
Anisimova’s reward is match with the woman who beat her at the Australian Open, Emma Raducanu, on Monday afternoon. We’ll see what she can take from her streak-snapping win over Andreeva. This time, Anisimova let her emotions boil up, and transform her into a more aggressive and purposeful player. It shouldn’t be the last time.
