American woman trying to snap nine-year Wimbledon drought

It's been nine years since Serena Williams won the 2016 Wimbledon title. Since then, no American woman has claimed the grass-court major, with Venus Williams finishing as runner-up in 2017 and her sister losing in back-to-back finals in 2018 and 2019. 

This year, Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova had the chance to end the nine-year drought, and standing in their way are a pair of Russians. While Anisimova will face the unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Tuesday's quarterfinal, Navarro lost to teenager Mirra Andreeva in Monday's fourth round and failed to make the final eight. 

Anisimova has been in blistering form, dispatching Britain's Sonay Kartal in straight sets on Sunday, just a few days after beating Naomi Osaka in the third round. The win over Kartal made her the first American to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since 2022 when Anisimova lost to former World No. 1 Simona Halep. The 23-year-old didn't participate in the main draw in 2023 (hiatus) and 2024 (lost in qualifying), but has again shown this year why she feels at home on grass courts. 

"I think a lot of things have changed for myself," she said after reaching the quarterfinals, via WTA. "My work ethic and I feel like my professionalism has took a whole 360 ... I think ever since I took my break, I just found this new perspective and this newfound sense of fighting for everything and accepting the challenges that come and embracing them."

Anisimova could run into World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal. As daunting as that task sounds, Sabalenka has never advanced past the final four at SW19 and is fresh off consecutive major finals losses at Roland-Garros and Melbourne. As such, the Belarusian has proven to be vulnerable in pressure-cooker situations and isn't invincible by any means. 

As for Navarro, the 24-year-old tried to maintain her strong streak of deep runs at recent slams, following her quarterfinal appearance at last year's Wimbledon, her semifinals showing at the 2024 U.S. Open and her top-eight finish at this year's Australian Open. She lost in straight sets to Andreeva 6-2, 6-3.