American dream for Amanda Anisimova: Reaches US Open final after late-night Naomi Osaka epic

At nearly 1am US time, Amanda Anisimova finally got over the line and sealed the deal as she saw off Naomi Osaka at the US Open 6-7, 7-6, 6-3. The 24-year-old is into her second Grand Slam final in a row having also ascended at Wimbledon.

But the Wimbledon title tilt added more demons than exercised them as she was double bageled in a traumatic 6-0, 6-0 loss against Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. Only just over 50 days later, she has managed to vanquish those demons as she beat Swiatek in the last round and has now seen off Osaka.

An Osaka that even the US Open Twitter account had on their poll asking who would win in the final, her or Aryna Sabalenka. Talk about getting ahead of yourself. Osaka has had a great fortnight but comes up short, she is very much back under new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

But now is Anisimova's time. She faces defending champion Sabalenka in order to try and feasibly grab that American dream. She has been the underdog throughout and was again vs Osaka, this is despite their rank difference in seeding. Of course though Osaka has been there and done it and got the t-shirt and is a multiple-time Grand Slam champion. She also had never lost from the quarter-finals onwards, all four stages she has gone on to seal it.

So Anisimova had every right not to be the all-conquering favourite in this one and given she also saw off Swiatek last round and will face Sabalenka next, all three not as the favourite she certainly suits that tag of not being the top dog and thrives on it.

The tale of the tape

Anisimova dropped serve in the opening game of the match thanks to a double fault and a myriad of errors. The nerves seemed to be getting to her as the heat ramped up. She was leaking errors but Osaka wasn't playing well either and in the first tie-break, an Anisimova double fault proved vital as Osaka got the edge and won six points in a row to surge into a 7-4 lead.

In the penultimate point, the electronic line calling system again came into disrepute as Osaka sent a groundstroke towards the baseline. Out was signalled before the ball had bounced. But it did indeed bounce out. Albeit not too much of a fuss kicked up. Osaka was rattled though from there going into the second set smashing her racquet as Anisimova began playing the lights out tennis that got her to this point.

The backhand but also the forehand were on fire for Anisimova. Her serve was also dialled in as Osaka visibly struggled with fatigue. As the third set began, Anisimova was starting to dial in as Osaka had lost all urgency. It was all about the American and where the ball would land in the court.