By KEN MAGUIRE AP Sports Writer
LONDON — Amanda Anisimova served three of her 20 aces in the deciding tiebreaker to hold off Sofia Kenin, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3), and reach the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday as Kate, the Princess of Wales, visited the All England Club.
Anisimova, who was consoled by Kate a year ago after being routed by Iga Swiatek in the final, trailed 3-1 in the third set before she broke back in the sixth game against her fellow American, the 2020 Australian Open champion who is now ranked No. 105.
“Some moments were really awful. I’m just so happy through to the next round,” Anisimova said on Court No. 2.
“I never thought that I’d be saying this – but thank you to my serve today,” she added. “I’m not an amazing server. Now, I can finally say I can serve pretty good.”
The sixth-seeded Anisimova whacked her racket on her leg at one point in the deciding set.
“I was down 3-1 and I told myself to just keep fighting and this might be your last moments at Wimbledon … just try and maybe have fun and enjoy it,” said Anisimova, who next faces 26th-seeded American Madison Keys. “I try to remind myself, just have fun, you are playing at Wimbledon. I do get hard on myself sometimes.”
Swiatek, who beat Anisimova, 6-0, 6-0, for the 2025 title on Centre Court, needed just 70 minutes to get past 2021 Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova, 6-1, 6-3.
The defending champion gets Filipino rising star Alexandra Eala, who rallied to beat Maya Joint, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, in the third round. On Tuesday, Joint spoiled Serena Williams’ singles comeback.
Second-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion at the All England Club, made quick work of Caty McNally, 6-1, 6-2, and will face Belgium’s Elise Mertens, seeded 25th, for a spot in the last 16.
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS, FRITZ ADVANCES
A well-dressed Taylor Fritz impressed again, beating compatriot Patrick Kypson, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5, to reach the third round.
Fritz’s white blazer and NBA-style warmup pants for his walk-on at Court No. 2 drew attention but his play wasn’t bad either – he fired 19 aces and avoided getting pushed into a fourth set.
The sixth-seeded American, a semifinalist last year, emphatically pumped his right fist when he broke Kypson to convert his fourth match point.
Fritz also won his opener in straight sets and had worn a similar outfit with tear-away warmup pants – designed to easily unbutton as you pull them off in one tug.
“I took it off slowly in the first round. I kind of actually made a mess of it,” Fritz said during his post-match press conference. “It’s actually just a lot easier to just rip them off. I saw a video of Frances (Tiafoe) doing it. I was just trying to copy him today. ”
Later, an equally dapper Tiafoe showed how it’s done – earning applause for quickly pulling off the bottoms before his match against Jan Choinksi. The 17th-seeded Tiafoe won, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
“I had a lot of momentum from the end of the third,” the American said in his on-court interview. “I just wanted to try to get an early break and take his soul a little bit, take his belief away, and that’s kind of what happened.”
Naomi Osaka’s fashion statements have made her court walk-ons must-see viewing at Grand Slam tournaments – Wimbledon included.
Also Thursday, both second-seeded Alexander Zverev and fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur recorded straight-set victories.
Matteo Berrettini, who lost the 2021 Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic, beat 20th-seeded Arthur Fils, 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, on Centre Court.
Berrettini will next face wild-card entry Grigor Dimitrov, who eliminated 15th-seeded Jakub Mensik, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Last year, Dimitrov was leading his fourth-round match against eventual champion Jannik Sinner but stopped playing because of an injured pectoral muscle.
DJOKOVIC SAYS ‘COOL OFF’ JUDGING SERENA
Djokovic knows just what it means to have to live up to lofty expectations after years of titles and trophies.
He’s 39 and is a 24-time Grand Slam champion who now plays only sparingly.
So he’s better positioned than almost anyone else to analyze what Serena Williams – a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion just like he is – must have been feeling after losing at the All England Club earlier this week in the first singles match that she played in nearly four years.
“People always expect you to play at your best because they’re used to seeing you dominate the sport for many years,” Djokovic said. “She’s 44. She has two children. Coming back, it’s normal that she still is not at her best in terms of movement. She hasn’t played a match in so many years. People need to cool off a little bit with judgment and criticism and everything. Let’s just enjoy the greatness, who she is, what she represents to the sport.”
Williams was beaten, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia in the first round on Tuesday but showed she could be competitive with an opponent less than half her age after being away for so long.
Williams still cranked out serves faster than 120 mph and dictated points with her heavy groundstrokes. But movement was an issue and the 87th-ranked Joint was able to win more of the big points by hitting beyond the reach of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.
“Her wanting to give it a try and just come back is an incredible gift for our sport,” Djokovic said. “I think people sometimes – I don’t know why – they don’t appreciate that enough. They just start to speculate, judge or whatever. It’s like, ‘Hey, guys, enjoy. You have the greatest ever to come play for you, to bring more attention to your sport.’
“I really support Serena. Always have. Hopefully she’s going to play more,” Djokovic added.
Williams was given wild card invitations to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon and it remains to be seen whether she will still play doubles with older sister Venus.
Williams announced on Wednesday that she tweaked her right knee toward the end of the first set against Joint. She said she still hopes to play doubles but the Williams’ sisters opener against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina was the only remaining first-round match not on the schedule for Friday. There is still a possibility they could play Saturday.
At last year’s U.S. Open, Djokovic publicly challenged Serena to return.
“When somebody challenges her, she never refuses. So I challenge Serena: Come back on the tour next year,” Djokovic said in 2025.
Now, Djokovic wants to see Serena play this year’s U.S. Open.
“I hope for the sake of tennis and all of us that we be able to see her more,” Djokovic said. “I assume that U.S. Open is somewhere where she would like to play. Playing in her home Slam would be amazing for her and for everyone else.”
Djokovic won his second-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets Wednesday night on Centre Court – 24 hours after watching Serena’s match on the same court on TV.
“What she’s doing is incredible. Epic,” Djokovic said. “I’ve always been a fan of Serena. I’m sure she wanted and expected to at least win one match or more. Knowing how competitive she is, the mind of a champion that she has, she’s not happy with just showing up on the court. She wants to win.”
VONN DIDN’T EXPECT SERENA TO ‘SHOW ALL HER CARDS’
Lindsey Vonn, another 40-plus athlete who recently made a comeback, struggled at times in her first season back on the World Cup skiing circuit after nearly six years of retirement.
But Vonn was the top World Cup downhiller last season at age 41 until her horrific crash at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February left her with a severely fractured left leg.
Vonn attended Serena’s comeback in doubles at Queen’s last month and last week told The Associated Press ahead of Williams’ singles return, “I would expect for her to play well but not show all her cards yet.”
AP sports writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this story.