TEARFUL Amanda Anisimova suffered major final heartbreak once again as she was crushed by Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final.
The American tennis star sobbed on Wimbledon’s Centre Court when she was destroyed 6-0 6-0 by Iga Swiatek amid a flurry of unforced errors.
Amanda Anisimova was heartbroken as she reflected on the defeat[/caption]
And on Saturday afternoon in New York – with thunder and lightning forcing the Arthur Ashe roof to be closed – she missed out on Slam glory for the second successive occasion.
Sabalenka, the first woman to retain the singles Championship since Serena Williams in 2014, won 6-3 7-6 in this battle of the power-hitters to bank a record £3.7million ($5m).
For the Belarussian, it was a fourth major title, all of them on hard courts, and cements her standing as the world No.1 in women’s tennis.
After Anisimova, 24, failed to convert three break points in game one and was then broken in her first service game, Yanks in the crowd must have feared the worst for the New Jersey-born ace.
Though there was no repeat of that humiliating SW19 scoreline this time, Anisimova’s self-inflicting habits returned and up went the double-fault count to seven.
And screeching Sabalenka, 27, won four games in a row from 3-2 down to claim the first set in 38 minutes.
In the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, Anisimova may have done well to force a second-set tie-break.
But she then suffered another nightmare at the highest level of the sport.