NEW DELHI: Amanda Anisimova expressed her pride in reaching the second week of the Australian Open upon her return from an eight-month hiatus from tennis.
Despite a part of her anticipating a swift reintegration, the 22-year-old American, who took a break in May due to mental health concerns and burnout, commenced her Melbourne campaign by eliminating the 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Anisimova, a former world number 21 and a semi-finalist at the 2019 French Open, continued her impressive run with convincing wins against Argentine Nadia Podoroska and former world number two Paula Badosa in the subsequent rounds.
“I’m really proud of myself,” Anisimova told reporters.
“I wasn’t sure, should I expect to do well? Because a lot of people were telling me, ‘don’t put too much expectations on yourself. You’ve taken a lot of time off. Don’t get too down on yourself if you don’t do well at these tournaments’.
“I kind of took that in a little bit, but I still expected a lot out of myself. But at the same time I was going to be happy whether I lose in the first round or if I do well.
“I’m just really happy that I was able to get this far, but I still think that I can do more.”
Currently languishing at 442nd in the world, Anisimova can expect a big bump in her ranking by reaching the Melbourne Park fourth round for the third time.
She will have to be at her very best to get any further, however, with in-form defending champion Aryna Sabalenka as her next opponent.
(With inputs from Reuters) <\/span><\/div>\n