Amanda Anisimova ends wait for 2025 title with victory at China Open
Amanda Anisimova ended her wait for another title in 2025 with a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory over Linda Noskova in the China Open final.
World number four Anisimova has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign after she won the Doha Masters in February but a string of final defeats at majors and on the WTA Tour had followed until Sunday.
However, Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Anisimova would not be denied this time as a first-set bagel in Beijing was followed by the American being able to regroup after a tough second set to close out victory in one hour and 46 minutes.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic dug deep to claim only his second win since the US Open with a gutsy 4-6 7-5 6-3 triumph over Yannick Hanfmann at the Shanghai Masters.
World number five Djokovic was on court for two hours and 45 minutes on Sunday evening before he eventually got the better of German qualifier Hanfmann to progress into the last 16 of the ATP 1000 event.
After Djokovic ended a month-long spell away from the court on Friday with a straight-sets win over Marin Cilic, Hanfmann provided a much tougher assignment but could not last the course with the 24-time grand-slam champion.
Djokovic said on court: "It's the same for every player out on the court, but it's brutal. It's brutal when you have over 80 per cent of humidity day after day, particularly for the guys when they're playing during the day with heat, with sun, it's even more brutal.
"For me, biologically, it's a bit more challenging to deal with it, but I had to really weather the storm today. Yannick played an incredible match from the beginning."
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard produced a shock earlier in the day with a 6-4 7-5 success over fifth seed Taylor Fritz to follow Holger Rune into the fourth round.
